First came the mortgage crisis. Now comes the credit card crisis.

After years of flooding Americans with credit card offers and sky-high credit lines, lenders are sharply curtailing both, just as an eroding economy squeezes consumers.

The pullback is affecting even creditworthy consumers and threatens an already beleaguered banking industry with another wave of heavy losses after an era in which it reaped near record gains from the business of easy credit that it helped create.

Lenders wrote off an estimated $21 billion in bad credit card loans in the first half of 2008 as more borrowers defaulted on their payments. With companies laying off tens of thousands of workers, the industry stands to lose at least another $55 billion over the next year and a half, analysts say. Currently, the total losses amount to 5.5 percent of credit card debt outstanding, and could surpass the 7.9 percent level reached after the technology bubble burst in 2001.

Faced with sobering conditions, companies that issue MasterCard, Visa and other cards are rushing to stanch the bleeding, even as options once easily tapped by borrowers to pay off credit card obligations, like home equity lines or the ability to transfer balances to a new card, dry up.

Big lenders — like American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup and even the retailer Target — have begun tightening standards for applicants and are culling their portfolios of the riskiest customers. Capital One, another big issuer, for example, has aggressively shut down inactive accounts and reduced customer credit lines by 4.5 percent in the second quarter from the previous period, according to regulatory filings.

Lenders are shunning consumers already in debt and cutting credit limits for existing cardholders, especially those who live in areas ravaged by the housing crisis or who work in troubled industries. In some cases, lenders are even reining in credit lines after monitoring cardholders who shop at the same stores as other risky borrowers or who have mortgages from certain companies.

While such changes protect lenders, some can come back to haunt consumers. The result can be a lower credit score, which forces a borrower to pay higher interest rates and makes it harder to obtain loans. A reduced line of credit can also make it harder for consumers to manage their budgets, because lenders have 30 days to notify their customers, and they often wait to do so after taking action.

The depth of the financial crisis has shocked a credit-hooked nation into rethinking its habits. Many families once content to buy now and pay later are eager to trim their reliance on credit cards. The Treasury Department, which is spending billions of dollars in taxpayer money to clean up an economic mess brought on in part by all sorts of easy credit, recently started an advertising campaign inviting consumers to check into the “Bad Credit Hotel,” an online game that teaches the basics of maintaining good credit.

At the same time, the fear factor among lenders has deepened just as the crisis makes it harder for some financially stretched consumers to wean themselves from credit cards for even basic needs, like gas and food.

Even those with good credit ratings are not excepted. American Express, which traditionally catered to more upscale cardholders, said it would be increasing effective interest rates by 2 or 3 percentage points for some of its credit card holders — a move that could, for example, push a 15 percent rate up to 18 percent.

After reading this article I think now more than ever is the time for people to take back control  of their financial futures.  We should no longer be slaves to the whims of these credit providers, and there is a program out right now that can help you navigate during this financial crisis.  Learn how at www.wealthandmoneymagnet.com

Included in the new law, according to NAR, are housing provisions for veterans who are already homeowners as well as those seeking homeownership.

Three provisions in the legislation are critical to help veterans during the current housing turmoil. The law will make it easier for veterans who have fallen victim to risky subprime loans to refinance their loans into safer, more affordable loans backed by the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs.

The legislation also extends the VA loan limit increases through 2011, which will help veterans living in high-cost areas. In addition, the VA can now offer adjustable-rate mortgages to veterans, which makes homeownership more attainable for military families and personnel who often have to move more frequently than their civilian counterparts.

NAR president Dick Gaylord said, “this will go a long way toward helping veterans buy and keep their homes,” he added “We need to support and protect those who serve our country.  Helping ensure that every veteran who can afford to own a home and wants to do so will have the opportunity and that everyone who responsibly owns a home is able to keep it is part of that commitment.”

Because of Judge Carter’s recent ruling in a lawsuit against credit reporting giants Experian Information Solutions, TransUnion and Equifax Information Services, new rules for the credit reporting industry have recently become operational. The country’s three major repositories of consumer credit information must now follow detailed procedures for the retroactive correction and updating of borrowers’ and consumers’ credit file information concerning debt discharged in Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings as well as new procedures to ensure that debts subject to future discharge orders will be similarly treated.

Michael W. Sobol, an attorney at the national law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, which represented the plaintiffs in the litigation, called the new procedures a “paradigm shift in credit reporting industry” that will immediately benefit millions of homeowners and borrowers. “No longer can credit reporting agencies merely parrot back this information as provided by creditors but must now reconcile creditors’ information against available public records to assure maximum possible accuracy,” he added.

In the class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that Experian, TransUnion and Equifax violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to follow reasonable procedures in the reporting of debts discharged in Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings. Plaintiffs allege that defendants continued to report debts as unpaid or overdue even though they had been discharged in bankruptcy and defendants were aware of the existence a Chapter 7 discharge order.

The new procedures for the credit reporting industry were established under to an injunction approved by Judge Carter in August 2008 in the case of White vs. Experian Information Solutions. The court set Oct. 1 as the date the new procedures became in effect.

“Consumer credit is tightening across the nation due to the crisis in the financial industry,” added Mr. Sobol. “It is more important now than ever that consumers’ creditworthiness be assessed upon the most accurate information available.”

The class action lawsuit remains ongoing with the plaintiffs seeking monetary damages for the defendants’ alleged misconduct.

By James Comtois

But after 2 years United First Financial has changed the lives of Americans buy giving back over $153,000,000.00 of prinicpal pay down.  They have used the Money Merge Account program, and they’re on track to financial freedom to acheive their personal goals

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said the nation has been hit with an “economic Pearl Harbor,” and the government must respond quickly.

Buffett said the nation’s economic problems are already starting to be felt by furniture and jewelry stores such as the ones owned by Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

The billionaire predicts that the rest of the “Main Street” economy will start to have problems if the government’s financial bailout plan doesn’t pass Congress soon.

“In my adult lifetime, I don’t think I’ve ever seen people as fearful economically as they are now,”

With all that depressing news… There is a guaranteed solution.

Recently a new program has been made available to help homeowners counter attack by building equity back into their homes.  Local residents now have the power to build home equity in their homes at an alarming pace.  Using the Money Merge Account provided by United First Financial.

This of course sounds too good to be true and that is what both I and tens of thousands of other current clients across the country thought.

Over the past couple of years I have seen financial services programs and fads come and go, but I have never seen anything this powerful.  From the moment I became aware of this program I knew I had to help people out of this financial crisis and put home equity back into their lives.