My father has been rebuilding his credit for the past two years or so and he has a HSBC credit card with a $300 CL and $59 AF. The account currently has a balance on it but I'm making min. payments and keeping the account open so he can add my sister as a joint account user when she turns 21. The card will have five years of positive credit history and it will be a lot easier for her to obtain credit in her own name.

CCE, credit is going to be tough for those that have weathered this financial storm as well as ones who are getting started. Those who still have good scores will be scrutinized more closely while the ones who are trying to improve their credit picture might have to work a little harder.

I don't know CCE, a good salary, middle score over 720, little or no debt will give you favor..............

Meya, I logged in by mistake smcc and it took that, why, I don't know....

smcc + smcc811:confused: are these two accounts by the same person or just one?

Is this going to be a new movement on debit and secured cards? Will credit be only for the privileged and elite? It seems likely.

smcc811 - WOW...! Now you are on to a major big time situation. We are not perfect. Things happen in life to all of us. We are marked for life! GADS...! This doesn't make sense? There is some serious thinking going on here and it scares me! I know things happen such as personal, financial, political... beyond our control and ...? Hmm... Thanks for your insight. In my time all the factors were NOT connected so you had a chance (I am an old guy). Frankly, you could breathe.

I have always preached here that credit has never been this close to cash as far as importance goes. I guess the Credit Card bill will make cash the premier way to pay for things in the near future and Credit Cards will be a distant second. What will the younger generation need to get their credit careers started and what will the older generation need to do to keep what they have worked so hard for over the years ?

Not to go off on a tangent here Wanderer but the sad thing is those who had good, great, or excellent credit who got laid off and couldn't continue to pay their bills and saw their credit score plummet, who are now up for a position, where the employer does a background check, see's the low score and possibly dismiss this candidate without talking to him/her to find out the reason why.............

All - caution on the use of the concepts of "always" and "never". When you get old enough often times you see the always and never repeat themselves. Homeland Security uses them alot... The only real thing we are sure of is birth. taxes and death. Does that sound interesting but it is right. :

smcc - I am on the roll... you are right about the capacity of an individual and the reduction in credit lines. If this had been done with me back in 1998 - 2001, I probably wouldn't have gotten into huge debt and had to take the big BK. I got carried away and based on capacity would not have had access to huge CLs. I had it way to easy. With MBNA my CL was $57,500 and my household income at $18,000! Oops!

smcc - It just hit me, I got my first credit card (Texaco Gas - issued by Texaco) nine years after high school. My first car loan was from a local bank and a friend of mine's father vouched for me (verbally) two years out of high school on the loan. Something that used to be checked on was people's character (legal - hmm the credit reporting agencies listened around picked up facts and gossip) and loans were based on this. GADS! We didn't even know what "hogwash" was on file and were NOT allowed to dispute it (Experian was big on this one). There was quite a long battle getting this process stopped and getting to a more open file system. In some ways all this automation is good so we can see what's going on and have input but, we can't even breath and some bureau recorded it. Try this, (Fall 2009) my auto and homeowner's insurance was checked by a special credit bureau that did a background before the insurance company would write the policy (this get's even better as I was already and insured of the same insurance company that had underwritten me nine months before and all I was doing was changing insurance agents). Not done yet, Wells Fargo Bank NA pulled hard credit bureau hits each time I bought a CD's (purchased two) spring of 2009 (didn't know it till later) and I was already a checking, savings and credit card customer. Not done yet, did you know that I just got checked by a check checking bureau that also tracks checking accounts and check reorders and posts the actual check numbers ordered on their bureau website along with the bank name (I demanded copies) [another Wells Fargo Bank NA thing]. Note, the check checking bureau was not just for Wells Fargo Bank NA. GADS... give me a break. With all this nonsense how do we have the problems on Wall Street and the like. Don't any of the big boys get snagged up in their bureaucracy! :white-flag:SMCC there is way too much...!!!

This is a good post. CCE, as far as "making it harder to get credit" I had my credit limit slashed by BOA to the tune of $20K. To say I was mad would be an understatement. The rep told me that although I managed the account in a meticulous fashion, that if I were to max out the cards I would not be able to pay the balance off.

Wanderer is right to a point, their are/were many people who made, say, $20k as an annual salary but had maybe 4 times the amount of credit that their salary could handle. They asked for increases at the appropiate times, paid their balances off every month, used less than 5% of their limit, etc.. The consumer figured the more credit they have the better they will be in the long run. Some ran their limits to the point where as long as they paid the minimum +, life would be ok. Then the bottom fell out and they, along with the bank were screwed. Obama wants to make sure that never happens again. Its going to be hard for people trying to get credit as it will be for the people who played by the rules trying to recover some of the limit they lost

Our government believes they know what is best for us. Yes, change is needed, but the change that I see so far is not good. It seems this bill is going to make it harder to get credit.

In the haste of things and the new Credit Reform Act, we have seen a lot of print that says if you don't like it change your credit cards. What is NOT said refers to the credit card industry. The industry is shy about new card holders, outstanding debt, and doing balance transfers. What says you get a good deal and your new card issuer changes terms after you open the account (very likely) and get past all the attractions for the new account. Nothing, so be careful. In today's world my suggestion is to ride out the storm. Our economy hasn't been this seriously bad since the great depression (1930's). Our bubble has burst after 15 years of out of control living by most all of us. We over spent and overbuilt in both residential and commercial property. Opportunities for jobs or the creation of new jobs with a particular focus on manufacturing (always believed to be the best paying) is over for now. Out-sourcing has moved many companies and jobs to other global sites. Our world has changed. The "baby boomers" were the machine to spend us out of it and now they are going conservative so they can retire and die. I am old enough to have seen many years where credit card rates started at 15.9% and went to 22.9% plus and every one charged an AF (that was the norm during the 1970's into the early 1990's). When the US Congress eliminated the Glass-Seagall Act of the 1930's (did this when Former President Clinton was in Office - 1998) all safeguards between banking, insurance and investments were gone. Safeguards are now a thing of the past! Who benefitted? Hmm... Wall Street, investment bankers, banks and the insurance companies and ...?! WOW did I get on the roll. Todays' world is NOT fun and until time and healing in our jobs and economy occur it will NOT improve. We can blame the Democrats, the Republicans, the Independents or ??? but, we lived the good life a long time. Looking back on our economic cycles, corrections were pretty common (smaller basis) every three to five years in our economy. Whew! I better stop. :white-flag:Oh, I almost forgot, in the old days we had to prove income (credit card companies actually verified), jobs or retirement pay, we actually lived somewhere...! Seems the new act is following what used to be just normal underwriting standards. Ah yes, the good life! As a post script, credit was harder to get and there was more thought on relating the three "C's" of credit to the applicant.

I'm just curious if this has affected anyone from getting approved for new cards. I already have seen my rates jump 5% on average since the talk of it, and now that it is passed, I'm worried about canceling any of my accounts.