The city of Houston, Texas had a problem. They had $400,000 or so left over in their budget earmarked for efforts to rebuild the area from Hurricane Ike. Generally, extra money in the budget is a good problem to have. But given the nation’s real estate market and current economic climate, some people in the city wanted to put that money to work.

Houston Mayor Bill White proposed a plan to use the money to pay down some of the debt of prospective first time home buyers. Houston already has a program to provide down payment assistance to lower income home buyers in some neighborhoods which it would like to revitalize. However, some applicants’ credit scores fell just short of the number needed to qualify for the program. The solution to its problem of too much money in both programs: give the homebuyers’ money to pay down their debt and boost their credit score.

If you go back a few years and start reading articles on how to act responsibly with your credit, you’ll see similar advice as what you see today:

Pay off your card every month.

If you carry a balance, make additional payments on the credit card with the highest interest rate first.

Make more than the minimum payment [...]

I figured it was about time that I profile a few laws about credit card debt.  I’ve decided to start with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA).  FACTA is perhaps best known for allowing you annual access to a free copy of your credit report from the three major credit bureaus [...]

Fair Isaac, the developer of the proprietary model used for the widely accepted FICO credit score, has announced that it has reversed its 2007 FICO 08 decision to remove the effect of an authorized user on a credit card account on the credit score of the authorized user. Its press release explains that it [...]

Connecticut is suing three credit rating agencies alleging that the rating agencies gave artificially low rates to municipalities, causing them to pay higher interest rates on bonds.  Read more about it here.
I wonder if consumers who believe that they have been unfairly denied access to lower interest rate credit cards and debt could sue under [...]

The Los Angeles Times reported that a 30 point increase in an individual’s credit score could save that person an average of $105 a year - for a grand total of $28 billion in savings for all consumers.

The Wall Street Journal reported in an article titled Card Issuers Get Personal to Check Credit that credit card companies are going well beyond credit scores in examining whether you should get, or keep, your line of credit. They are now looking at items as varied as what part of the region that you [...]

The Modesto Bee attempted to address the age old question of how many credit cards is too many this past weekend but the resounding answer - it depends - won’t help much in the debate.  The article, found here, is a good discussion of the many factors in the calculation as well as this interesting [...]

The Associated Press reported last week that the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission announced its consideration of regulations requiring credit card companies and others making loans to disclose to consumers when the lender is using the borrower’s poor credit history to justify an increase in interest rates.
The notice would not be [...]

Whether you’ve misused your credit cards in the past and need to build your credit score or you can’t get a credit card because you don’t have any credit history, you’re problem is the same - you need to raise your credit score without a credit card.
TheStreet.com has just released a list of five ways [...]