According to the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire Blog, Sen. Barack Obama met with two dozen college students at the University of Texas-Pan American this past Friday. He discussed his proposal to offer a $4,000 college tuition tax credit with students and warned them “Just be careful about those credit cards, all right? Don’t eat out as much..." After the foreclosure crisis, he warned, “the credit cards are next in line.” In reaction to one student who talked about late-night television advertisements that promise easy loans, Obama responded, “I’ve seen those... Those ads are terrible! They’re all like, ‘Hey, this is fun! No problem!’". Read the whole story here.

According to an article in CNN.com/Living, Americans put $2.2 trillion in debt on their credit cards last year. In fact, the percentage of those who pay late was the highest in three years. While some companies will lower your interest rates if you ask, experts say we should use no more than 10 percent of our available credit in today's credit environment. Details here.

In other news, watch out for your neigbors! According to according to the Sarasota Highlands Today, a Sebring woman was arrested Wednesday and charged with 41 fraud and larceny counts for allegedly stealing her neighbors' mail and using their credit cards and checks. Gory credit card details here.

In still more news, the American Chronicle reports on options for consumers with bad credit. Bad credit applicants know that getting a credit card is not an easy task when your credit report shows delinquencies and write offs. The Chronicle recommends that when seeking a new credit card, bad credit applicants should seek alternatives. See Cardpick's section on credit cards for people with bad credit.

Also recommended for monitoring your credit please try our affiliate, FreeCreditReport.com.

CreditCards.com announced that it was selected by LendingTree to power the credit card channels on LendingTree.com and its sister site, GetSmart.com. Now owned by an Austin TX based group, CreditCards.com was once owned by a small domainer company in Boston that launched about 20 first level domains as businesses in industry parterships and with start-up management teams. When the creditcards.com site was owned by that Boston group, the business team was turned down on a similar LendingTree proposal. One member of the original team was quoted as saying, "Why they are even using one of the logos which certain members of the team rejected even though it was the best one!" Too bad those guys short sold that site... Read more here.

According to MarketWatch, the underlying rate of U.S. inflation accelerated in January. MarketWatch, reporting on statistics released by the US Department of Labor said that the consumer price index increased 0.4% in January, driven by 0.7% gains in both energy and food prices. The core CPI (Consumer Price Index), which excludes food and energy costs, was also up 0.3% in January. MarketWatch reported that this was the largest gain since June 2006. Economists were expecting the CPI to rise 0.3% in January after a 0.4% gain in December. The core rate was expected to rise 0.2% after rising 0.2% in the previous month. What does this rise in inflation mean for you? In the short term, rising prices may continue to stimulate the Federal Reserve to control interest rates downward. So you can expect your credit card interest to at least stay where it is or go a little later for the moment.

It's mostly bad news this time of year, after the dust settles on Christmas, and only a little spending anxiety remains as St. Valentine's Day looms on the nearly forgotten horizon. So now it's time to knuckle down and work and pay, and work and pay.

In an article in the Times Online today, the publication blames the slowdown in the housing market for a recent downturn in the use of credit by consumers. The article also sites a change in the use habits of people using gift cards to make purchases. Seems they are spending on household necessities, like groceries, instead of the usual type of spending spree for gifts or furniture or new dishes... It also seems that credit-card delinquencies and not making minimum monthly payments are growing. Read more here. Tough times ahead?

In other news, DelawareOnline warns today that we better pay our bills quickly now as credit card companies are shrinking the window of time consumers have to pay off their credit card balances, i.e. increasing the minimum payment. The report also notes that late fees are increasing. Get the full story here. Are we depressed yet?

In the UK times are toughening too. In a story today in the Financial Times, there are warnings that lenders are scrutinizing and accessing increasing amounts of personal data when deciding on credit cards and loans. Lapses in good credit behavior that would have had little effect on a credit rating a year ago are being used to deny credit. Get the full story here. Are we immune?

Anyway, there is nothing we can do but work our way through. Now let's get to work. :-

If you have a variable-rate credit card, you may have already seen your rates fall in the last couple of weeks. According to KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi TX, the average interest rate on variable-rate cards has fallen to 13% in late January, from 14% in late September. The full positive effect from the Fed rate cuts may take a few months to be reflected in your variable rate. According to Jessica Austin of CardRatings.com, about 90% of all cards issued today have variable rates that typically move up and down in response to the Prime Rate. According to CardRatings, over the coming weeks and months, interest rates will fall .50% on variable rate credit cards.

Credit crime's are comitted by all kinds of people

From Newspaper owners, to father and son entrepreneurial con artists the world seems awash in scammers and thieves comitting credit card fraud. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constituion, the former owner of a Cherokee County newspaper, Connie Buce, 42, of Woodstock, was arrested for using the credit card information of her newspaper customers to commit identity fraud. In another article in the Sacramento Bee, a father and his son were sentenced for defrauding more than a thousand customers out of approximately $125,000. This insestious and felanous team initiated false $25 debits each month against 400 to 500 of his 1,200 credit card merchants, rotating the merchants to avoid arousing suspicion.