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Experian has announced that they will not be renewing their contract to provide FICO credit score to consumers. Experian is one of the top three sources of FICO score for consumers but that will all end on Feb 14. Experian will continue to provide information to lenders, and consumers can gain access to their credit information through Experian’s website, but those numbers won’t be your FICO score.

While Experian’s decision to pull out of its contract with Fair Isaac is a blow for consumers, myFiCO will continue to provide consumers with their FICO score but it won’t include the numbers from Experian after Feb 14th. If you are still interested to get your latest Experian scores, you have about 9 days to order it through myFiCO.

Credit card companies are hurting. Some analysts are predicting doom and gloom for many card issuers. Even strong companies such as Advanta may go out of business due to the amount of bad loans that they have on their portfolio. These companies are not going to bow out easily however. I have heard numerous accounts from folks who work for these companies. Interest rate hikes are coming. Sure. The introductory offer will still be something reasonable, but many consumers and small business owners have had their rates increased by 10 to 20%.

If you are in credit card debt, it is time to get out of it now. The best way to go is to stop spending the money that you don’t have. Sure. It’s tough. We all want to live great lives, but at the end of the day, dealing with creditors is just too much pain to take. By using prepaid credit cards or debit cards, you can make sure that you only spend money that you have. And it’s time to start monitoring and repairing your credit now.

The times are tough, but they’ll get even tougher if you keep spending the money you don’t have. Don’t spend money ahead of time (not many have stable jobs these days). And use prepaid credit cards when you can. It never hurts to be conservative, especially in these tough times.

Credit card companies have been hit badly by the financial crisis, and many of them are struggling to turn in profits. What do credit card companies do when they struggle to make a profit? They hike your rates. And let’s not forget that they are allowed to do so until June 2010. You should always check your statement to find out about the smallest changes. After all, you don’t want to park money on a credit card that slaps you with 26% interest rate.

These days are trying times for most Americans. But if you can afford to pay your balances in full, you definitely should. Everyone wants to have the latest gadgets, cars, and … but pay your debt down first before investing your money in a big money item. You’ll sleep better for it.

Your take: have you been hit by a credit rate hike? how badly?

The times are tough, and everyone has been hurt by the state of economy. Universities have been hit hard as less people can afford to go to school. The financial aid that used to be provided by government could be in jeopardy (even though Barack Obama has promised otherwise). But all this hasn’t kept credit card companies from marketing their cards to young students in college campuses. Michael Moore ran a piece on the very same issue on his website recently. The truth is, credit card companies want our students to pick up the cards and put large amounts they can’t afford to pay in one shot on them.

Have you wondered why is it that credit card companies are not experiencing more losses than they are these days? The answer is you and I. Folks like us pay the obscenely high interest rates to keep our credit record clean, and we are being taken advantage of by credit card companies. A whole lot of students don’t have a clear understanding about how to use credit cards. They buy things they can’t afford, and they pay their bills late. Late fees and high APR is a fact of life for many students.

Smart students understand that the money you borrow needs to be paid back. That’s why they are now using prepaid credit cards instead of regular credit cards. Prepaid credit cards allow you to spend the money that you have without going overboard. These cards are not perfect, and they do come with fees and limitations, but responsible students should stay away from attractive credit cards unless the understand the dangers of playing with fire. In these tough economic times, the last thing anyone would want to deal with is a greedy credit card issuer.

2008 is finally over, and I can’t say I am too sad. The year started with a lot of promise and ended with turmoil and uncertainty. 2009 seems to be another challenging year for both consumers and card issuers. Many card issuers have been hit hard by the state of economy, and things are expected to get worse in the upcoming months. While the credit industry hasn’t collapsed completely, it’s hanging on by a thread.

As a consumer, you can expect credit cards to get even tougher with us in the upcoming months. You can expect the rates to go up and borrowing money to get more difficult. At the end of the day, credit card issuers are out to make profit, and one way to do that is by increasing fees on poor consumers (this will change in the near future with the recent ruling).

What will the 2009 have in store for us? Nobody knows. But let’s hear your predictions…

Happy New Year everyone. 2009 is finally upon us, and many challenges are ahead. But it can only get better, right?

Now, this may be well known to you, but I haven’t had to deal with the driver’s license office in 4 years. So, I tried to outsmart folks today by getting up early and trying to renew my driver’s license. The funny thing was, I decided to leave my checks at home and bring my credit cards, assuming that in 2008 (almost 2009) most places would accept credit cards. No dice! I was told that only check or money order would be accepted.

This shouldn’t really be surprising. Credit card companies make a lot of money out of businesses that accept credit card. And the DMV office never really planned to jump on the whole credit card bandwagon anyway. Does that mean it’s right not to accept credit cards? I am not sure. It’s way more convenient to use a card, but it’s most costly to businesses too. Then again, these guys don’t accept cash either! Talk about making it easy to get a license.

A lot of folks have been hurt by the credit crunch, and credit card companies have had trouble pulling in profit from their card holders. That has made credit companies to make some tough decisions. For one, credit card companies are increasing fees on folks who have less than stellar credit background. Even some folks with excellent credit have been hit by higher rates. Secondly, many credit companies are tightening the criteria for getting approved for cards. This all means that you are going to find it difficult to get a credit limit in the upcoming months. The bad news is credit struggles will continue in 2009. The good news is that you may still get approved for some of the better offers if you apply for a card right now.

You can always compare cards to find the one that is best for you by going to your favorite credit card comparison site. I personally recommend the following comparison sites:

• CreditCards.com
• Credit-Land.com
• Intellicreditcards.com

You may still qualify for some of the better offers before the year-end. But you can be sure that a few cards will no longer be offered in the new year, and those that will survive will have tougher approval criteria.

Your take: Have you been hit by the financial crunch?

Credit card consumers have finally something to cheer about in these tough economic times. Federal Reserve has finally put the hammer down on credit card issuers that use deceptive business practices to extract more fees from their card holders. Credit card issuers have gotten away with many shady practices in the past few years, but the new ruling will bring more transparency to the credit card business and empower the consumers. Here are the major points of this decision:

• Credit card companies can not increase your interest rate on existing balances unless they have gotten your payment late by 30 days.
• Credit card companies can not charge you a late fee if they don’t give you at least 21 days to pay your dues.
• Credit card companies can not move your payments around in a way to make you pay more interest over long-term.

The only downside to the new rule is that it will go into effect on July 1st, 2010. As someone who has worked for credit card corporations before, I do understand the frustration on their part. But it’s simply not acceptable to play with consumers’ lives by charging them hidden and misc fees. I can just name a few card companies that will be not too happy about this (and you can expect them to look for ways to challenge this rule or find a loophole).

Your take: will the new ruling stop credit companies from continuing to apply their deceptive business practices?

If there was any indication a few months ago whether our economy was struggling or strong, there is no question now. We are half way through our way to a depression, and credit companies are affected by the state of economy as well. The volume of bad debt has put the squeeze on major credit card companies, and many are firing a few of their employees to cut cost.

But credit card employees are not the only ones who are getting the end of the stick from credit cards. Honest, good folks who have been paying their bills on time are also suffering. A few credit card companies have taken the initiative to reduce the credit limits of folks who are getting the most out of their cards. Let’s say you have a card that comes with $4,000 limit. If you are averaging only $1,500 a month on that card, you are going to have to expect to lose your credit limit soon. The argument here is that “you are not using your credit limit to it’s fullest,” and I guess that’s a valid argument. But that still counts as a penalty in my eyes.

Your take: is it fair for credit companies to reduce their best customers’ limits?