<prompt> Human: After divorcing and hitting financial problems years back, I ended up going into a debt management program which closed all of my credit cards, except my Delta Skymiles Amex as they did not work with amex. After working the program and paying off all my debt Im now financially doing very well and have my credit score up to around 800, Ive also bought a house and a nice but modest car. I dont foresee needing credit in the near future but for some reason I feel compelled to protect my score...The problem is, my delta amex has a 95 a year annual fee, and worse I now live somewhere that Delta is almost never a good option to fly. Ive kept the account open mostly because its my oldest card and I worry closing it will hurt my account age. That card was opened in 2003, and every other card I have was opened in 2012 or later. That amex card also has a 24,000 limit. So... I know it probably doesnt matter since I can afford the hit to my score, and paying 95 a year for a card that does me little good is dumb, but does anyone know how bad its likely to ding my score if I do close it down?Assistant: Call and downgrade it to a free card that has no fee. You keep the old card on account and dont pay 95. Human: You can do that? Wouldnt it show up as a new card in my credit report though?  <response>: many banks just treat it as the same account just with different card benefits Its like changing roles in a job, the company does not add new employee john,they just reclass him 