There's a horrible urban myth about credit cards. Well, actually there are many myths but there's one I am going to deal with. Closing accounts: they sometimes don't help you. Most times, they hurt your credit score to close an account.

What do you do when you're mad at a credit card bank?-- Threaten to cancel and make further threats to "tell everyone I know that Providian is a horrible bank". Well, that my be cathartic to do but are you maximizing your credit score?! No.

Your keeping the account on the books actually can do them more harm than good. How?! By charging ONLY $50 per month and calling the customer service center REGULARLY. Be nice, be courteous and KILL them with kindness.

You're killing them with kindness while you get better in the meantime. All those $50 monthly transactions are recorded as timely payments. Your credit report makes little distinction between $50 paid on time or $5000 paid on time.

If you have a low credit score with one major bank incident, there's no better way to boost your score by adding positive information with $50 transactions on other credit accounts.

No, we do not advocate spending $50 that you otherwise wouldn't spend.

No, we don't advocate ever paying late. In fact, pay early or pre-pay.

Yes, we recommend tracking your spending and stopping when you get to $50.