Care for Your Credit Score

Anyone will tell you that you must have good credit if you want to buy a house or a car. To ensure that you don't have bad credit, you should not misuse your credit cards. Your enchanted plastic may seem like a magic wand that makes your books and cafeteria food appear. During this economic time, however, you might want to reconsider the concept of buying now and paying later.Your fellow students may argue that you should not use a credit card because the high-interest rates are not worth it. The reality is that you do need to have a credit card, and you can't afford to lose it.

Professor Daryl Taylor of the Business and Computer Technology department said that credit cards have value. "You need them for online shopping, traveling, and car rental. But you need to have discipline in using your credit cards," he said.

It is a discipline that many of us break; 58 percent of people who carry credit cards do not pay the full balance every month according to the Consumer Federation of America.

Have you noticed that your mailbox isn't as full as it once was? That may be because credit card companies are not sending out their pre-approved offers.

Not only are credit card companies not approving more accounts, they are imposing new rules to their customers. Capital One has already reduced credit for their customers by 4.5 percent and is closing down inactive accounts.

Some companies are even making higher interest rates for consumers and businesses that have bad credit.

To cope with the mortgage crisis, many credit card companies are forced to decrease their personnel.

On Oct. 29, American Express was planning to cut 7,000 jobs worldwide.

It is important to remember that credit card companies are not your friends, but you need them as

much as they need you. "You need to have credit card to establish a credit history," said Douglass Staley, a professor of financial management.

With that said, you should think twice; curb your spending

habits because your credit card might no longer be there to bail you out.