But how is that different from you closing a card you no longer need? (In fact, many people with excellent credit scores are churning cards and closing cards all the time.)

You have to put in perspective. How many long-held cards do you have? If you have a few cards you've had for a decade or so, then one card that was closed after a year or two of inactivity is pretty insignficant. If that was your oldest card, though, it's very significant. Thus I don't think it's valid to make one blanket statement about what the effect will be.

But I agree with those others above who basically say that if you want to keep a card, be sure to use it at least once every 6 months or so. If you don't want a card, just close it. Try not to let a bank have control over closing your card by doing neither of those.

Btw, I myself had 2 cards closed by Barclays for inactivity, though it was years ago (2009 or so?), but they were both cards I didn't care much about (such as a Midwest AIrlines card as that airline was about to go poof anyway).

I take great care, however, in making sure I have periodic activity on those few cards I've had for two decades or longer (a Discover card and an AT&T Universal Card from Citi), even though what they earn is not of particular interest to me. I also have an Amtrak Guest Rewards card from Chase that I've had quite a decade yet, but it's the only thing keeping my Amtrak points from expiring, so I also want to make sure that one never gets closed for inactivity, even if I don't feel motivated to collect more of those points that much.

... Those of you who lost a Choice card, all you've lost is Gold status at Choice, which presumably didn't matter if you were never staying there anyway, and at any rate doesn't matter a whole let even if you are staying there a lot. The card itself doesn't collect points, so you've lost no points.