The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

Back in May, President Obama pushed for new legislation to prohibit some of the business tactics of credit card companies. Namely, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 will require lenders to notify card holders of rate and fee increases 45 days before they take affect. Until August 20, they only need 15 days of notification.

The small timelines credit card companies use to alert consumers of rate hikes is considered a primary driver of high personal debt because they are timed with a person’s spending habits. In other words, if a new television or other large expense was put on a card, a consumer would have about two weeks to pay it before the rate jumped, substantially increasing the overall cost of the item.…

The automated credit score was created in 1959 by the Fair Isaac Corporation. While “Fair Isaac” may not seem so aptly named for those who are struggling with low credit scores, the FICO system is the most commonly used numeric benchmark by which our lending and credit system measures financial wherewithal.

Unfortunately, so few of us really understand how that number is determined. In fact, if the credit rating system took a more open approach to communicating its processes, especially given the impact they can have on our livelihood, perhaps not as many people would be facing economic trouble. It is certainly worthwhile for anyone facing credit issues to understand as much as possible about how that three-digit number comes to pass.…