Debt, debt, debt

From twitter fans, I learned about this incredibly informative blog entry by James Quinn, "The Great Consumer Crash of 2009." It's long but definitely worth a read. Scroll down to check out the graphs he included that provide valuable visuals that reveal what's happening.

New credit card rules coming Thursday

Banks and consumers brace for new credit card rules

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. credit card industry, harshly criticized for imposing surprise fees and interest rate hikes on consumers, may face a day of reckoning on Thursday.

The Federal Reserve is to vote on credit card reforms that may bring some relief to customers who face a variety of ways for being hit with late fees, universal defaults, shorter payment periods and confusing payment allocations for different balances.

Credit card users likely also would see easier-to-read tables in their monthly statements as a result of the changes.

Also in this report: "In 2007, Americans were using an estimated 694.4 billion credit cards with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover logos, according to the Card Industry Directory."

Additional news sources following this story:

• Washington Post - "Fed Drafting New Credit Card Rules"
• New York Times - "Agency Seeks New Credit Card Rules"
• CreditCards.com - "What the new credit card reforms may mean for you"

And a quick link to some helpful advice:
The Motley Fool at Fool.com - "60-Second Guide to Managing Your Credit"