Scrutiny of credit card companies by legislators could spur credit card rate relief for credit card consumers according to an article in today's San Jose Mercury News. Chase Bank, one of the top five credit card issuers, announced that it will no longer increase a cardholder's interest rate when his/her credit score declines, starting March 1, 2008. This is imortant because your credit score could decline if you have too many credit-check inquiries, or if you close an old account, or if you increase your debt, or simply pay a bill late. Citigroup, another major credit card issuer, made changes after Congressional hearings last summer. Citi stopped the practice of "universal default" rate increases. Similar to Chase, this means Citi will no longer raise cardholders' rates over a late payment on another company's credit card. Citi will also stop adjusting cardholder's original interest rates during the intial credit card agreement term, typically two years.

Cardpick will soon expand to include great auto loan providers as well. Are you looking for an auto loan? The following 3 lenders are our recommended auto loan and car loan providers: Capital One Auto Finance; CitiFinancial^SM Auto (part of CitiGroup); Harbor Credit® Car Loan. If you have poor credit or bad credit, we suggest the third of these for finding a car loan with Bad Credit or even with No Credit. Please watch our credit card site and credit blog for updates on these and other great loan products available through CardPick.com.

Expedia Inc. is working with Citigroup Inc. to create a branded credit card. See the story in Friday's Puget Sound Business Journal and in full detail in PR Newswire. The new credit card will give users points for travel booked on Expedia as well as points for miles on their favorite airlines. It's an expansion of the two companies' ThankYou Rewards Network introduced last year. The new card has been dubbed the Citi PremierPass®/Expedia.com® Card, and should be available shortly. See all our Airline Miles Rewards Credit Cards here.

Citi runs Macy's program, and with Macy's, has identified 3.5 million account holders with inactive accounts. In an attempt to get them Active, Citi and Macy's have switched them to general Citi MasterCard credit cards, and mailed them out to consumers. Federal Law only allows sending the cards to people that request them or sending replacement cards, so Citi and Macy's are calling this a replacement card. Consumer advocates are concerned that people, now expecting the cards, are at risk for getting them stolen and having identity theft problems.

Move over Visa, American Express, Discover and MasterCard

It was only a matter of time before someone with enough media, cash, and transactional infrastructure at his/her disposal started competing with the four biggest US based credit and debit card network brands, MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discover. In an article today in the San Francisco Business Times, Mark Calvey reports that Steve Case, former AOL CEO who founded and runs the new investment firm, Revolution LLC, announced the launch of Revolution Money earlier this week. The new company offers a credit card and a free money exchange service. The exchange service competes against eBay's Paypal offering. As Revolution grows, the credit card will compete with almost everyone in the known credit card universe. The card will boast enhanced security as well as far reaching merchant acceptance. Credit card mMerchants are being offered better pricing than other networks to promote acceptance and use. There will be no customer name or account number on the card providing greater identity security for consumers. Instead, the so-called "anonymous" credit card uses PIN-based encrypted technology. Revolution Money, formerly GratisCardInc, raised $50 million in a second round financing earlier this month to start the venture. The funding was led by Citigroup amongst others, and Citi is extending AAA credit for the new institution's platinum customers. A large handful of other banks and institutions are partners in the venture. Stand by for more competitors, all of which adds up to more credit card choices for you and me! (Read the article)