Q. My credit card sent me a notice stating my account would be closed next month. I have always paid my account in full -- until the past two months, when I've carried a balance. Can I close the account on my own so it reflects I closed the account instead of the company?

A. You can certainly write your credit card company a letter, asking them to close the account. But the only way you'll know how the issuer reported the closure to the credit agencies is to check copies of your credit history later this fall.

You can get free copies of all three at www.AnnualCreditReport.com. (None of the services that advertise free credit reports on television are actually free.)

If the reports show that the account was closed by the bank, you can dispute the entry. It's difficult to know how the credit reporting agencies will respond, given the fact that you're acting after the bank has scheduled the account for closure.

It used to be that credit cards only closed delinquent accounts. But that certainly isn't the case today.

Credit card companies are in the process of closing, or reducing the credit limits, on millions of up-to-date accounts.

As our story on data profiling explains, credit card companies are looking at everything from where customers shop to where they work and live to predict whether they'll be able to keep paying their bills.

They're trying to figure out who the recession's next victims might be -- and cut off their credit. One banking industry expert expects credit cards to reduce the total available credit on credit cards by half by the end of 2010.

When you stopped paying your account in full and began carrying a balance the past couple of months, a data profiling program probably flagged your account. In the credit card company's view, that change of behavior made you look like a bigger credit risk.

Whatever happens, don't lose any sleep over how the closure gets recorded on your credit history. Credit cards are closing so many nondelinquent accounts that future lenders will be far more interested in your spotless payment history.