Closed my AMEX because of the CLD on my account.

Nice article. Thankfully none of my interest rates have gone up and my limits have stayed the same. And this includes my American Express.

Just read this article about the new credit card crisis by the new york times, it pretty much confirms what everyone has been discussing on here as of late

"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"

full article is here:

http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/106044/Consumers-Feel-the-Next-Crisis:-It's-Credit-Cards

GMAC has issued an edict to all of their GM dealers. They will not be financing cars for any customer who has a FICO score under 700.

That is a very high standard and I predict a mini bailout of the car industry next.

I wonder who's going to pay Fair Isaac o change the credit scoring system so that people will begin to show more 700's...haha. It's only a matter of time.

They should've done a better job with underwriting instead of raising their standards now.

GMAC has issued an edict to all of their GM dealers. They will not be financing cars for any customer who has a FICO score under 700.

That is a very high standard and I predict a mini bailout of the car industry next.

Smcc, I agree with you on the savings concept. My scores are currently under 650 across the board and that is due to high util. I let my dad use my cards because he didn't have any credit cards when he needed them most so I let him put charges on my cards. Now, he is starting to pay me back slowly and I should be debt free by the end of December right before the new year. I also have to wait for my inquiries to fall off within the next two years in order to be approved for a card from a CU. I am currently working with two CU's. Here are there websites and they are a pleasure to do business with to say the least.

www.wescom.org

www.wpcu.org

My opinion hjm331 is that credit is going to be very hard to get. The "baddies" you speak about will be issues that will be looked at where if they are 36 months old they will not be so much of an issue.

I also agree that a score of 700 will be threshold where you will be considered favorably for a mortgage, auto loan, etc.. If you have failed with a credit card company in the past, there will be a VERY LONG moratorium before being considerd for another chance.

Lenders are going to want to see substantial savings to show that while applying for credit you have assets to fall back on.

Bottom line hjm331, your score, even if its above 700, will not guarantee you anything. You will be looked favorably upon, but its not a ticket to "Approved". The article is a wake up call for all of us to reduce our debt or eliminate it altogether but at the same time if possible save 10% of your income no matter how painful that may be.

Smcc, that's a very interesting read. The thing that I'm concerned about is that once the economy does get better, how will the creditors act when it comes to approving an application for a credit card, auto, mortgage loan. I believe it's going to be harder but I don't know how hard it will be. Maybe the prime banks will only approve you if your credit report doesn't contain any baddies or BK's.

The title of this was taken straight from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It is a very interesting article. I hope you enjoy

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/10/new_tighter_credit_will_change.html