As the United States experienced the deepest recession in five decades, banking institutions are responding by scaling back on lending,  applying credit card rate changes, and cutting back on the available credit limit of their customers. The quarterly survey from the Federal Reserve (released May 4, 2009) revealed that 65% of all banks have decreased the credit limit available to new and existing credit card holders. Aside from the obvious fact that consumers cannot borrow as much as they used to, what is the implication of these developments on their FICO score?

Take the experience of Sharii Rey who works as a paralegal in Oregon. Her credit limit was drastically cut from $42,500 to $12,000 by JPMorgan Chase & Co. The lower amount of available funds is the least of her problems though. This is because her debt relative to funds available to her quadrupled and this will reflect badly on her FICO score. It will essentially crush her ability to borrow especially if she has a high outstanding balance.

According to an Illinois Democrat Luis Gutierrez, the FICO formula has a lot of loopholes because it lowers the consumer’s rating no matter their individual risk profiles if banks decrease the available amount of loans. In the second half of 2008, 30 million Americans had their credit limits decreased. This is because three of the country’s largest bank – Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan, and Bank of America Corp. had cut a total $320 billion from the consumer’s credit lines.

The economic collapse raised doubts on the validity of credit scores. Around 90 percent of US banks still use the FICO score to gauge the customer’s credit worthiness. However, the FICO scoring system, which was developed in 1956, seems inappropriate in today’s turbulent times. Still, the FICO CEO Mark Greene said that “FICO scores have held up quite well in terms of predictive accuracy”. And that the score change because of the banks’ actions may just be a signal that the environment is riskier thus, those who had their ratings cut have become “riskier consumers”.

This past week, talks in Washington centered on regulating the financial industry. The Obama administration has proposed to give the Fed systematic powers in overseeing the banking sector as a whole. A lot of lawmakers are criticizing this plan, arguing that giving too much power to the Fed might be risky. There is currently limited disclosure about the Fed’s multibillion-dollar lending programs. If they weren’t transparent in the past, why would they change in the future? Another concern is the structure of the Federal Reserve itself. Regional branches are not classified as government agencies.

Meanwhile, other lawmakers cite that the Fed has a conflict of interest. If it tasked to conduct monetary policy then it might not be the best body to supervise banks. Senior Fed officials have argued, however, that the two tasks are actually complementary. Since the agency is involved in crisis stabilization, they need to have other roles in the financial system.

Whatever the case may be, ultimately, it is the public who has to pay for the decisions made on Capitol Hill. Bloggers from all over the country have expressed their opinions about these developments. Here is a list of blogs that talk about the Fed’s proposed systematic role, the criticisms of the system, and how it will affect ordinary Americans:

Paul Joseph @ Prison Planet wrote an insightful blog post entitled “Ron Paul Slams Federal Reserve’s New Dictatorial Powers“. Here, he provides a lot of quotes from Ron Paul and explains his argument. The criticism of Obama’s proposal is centered on giving the Fed additional authority. It might be too risky for the industry as a whole.

The Look at Vietnam blog provides updated information about the news in Capitol Hill. One article uploaded this week is titled “Geithner Says Federal Reserve Best Positioned for Super Regulatory Role“. It explained the position of the Treasury Secretary. He also said that the plan will only give the Fed a modest amount of additional powers.

Sudeep @ the Wall Street Blog wrote an in-depth blog post, “Financial Regulation: Congress Takes on the Federal Reserve“. It basically outlines the arguments lawmakers have over Obama’s proposed reform and the administrations answer to these concerns.

The Senate has passed a new credit card legislation designed to stop abuses in the industry. Consumers will particularly benefit from this measure because of unfair rate increases, provisions in small print, and fee traps will no longer be permitted. In addition, there will be greater accountability required in the credit card industry.

If you have been burned by a credit card company in the past, you can relax. With the new measure, you can start using your credit card again without fear that you will be mercilessly charged penalties, finance charges, and other types of fees without your previous knowledge or consent.   This week’s round-up of blogs focus on posts that talked about the new credit card measure and how it will affect your finances.

Jim Manzi @ National Review Online wrote an interesting article titled “Credit Cards Don’t Kill Credit Ratings, People Do“. Essentially, he cited the reasons why bad credit should be attributed to individuals, not financing institutions. It is still an individual’s own responsibility to oversee their personal finances by determining how much they can afford to spend. Credit card companies are simply the medium that lets them borrow money.

Jennifer Freeman @ Think Glink wrote a short blog post “Credit Cards: Changes in New Credit Card Legislation“. Here, she discussed about what the average consumers can expect from the new bill that has been passed. The blog post was particularly inclined towards outlining the benefits of the new legislation. At the end, she posed a question about what readers think will happen with this law being implemented.

Ismat Mangla @ CNN Money outlines the effects of the newly revised legislation on credit cards for the ordinary consumer. The post entitled “What Credit Card Legislation Means to You” was especially helpful in identifying the areas in which the law will make the most impact on your life.

Bart Narter @ Celent Banking Blog stated his musings about the new credit card legislation in his post “Credit Card Legislation“. His blog post gives an unbiased view about how this law will affect the banking industry and consumers alike. While consumers will benefit from exorbitant penalty fee, credit card companies will suffer because they cannot appropriately penalize irresponsible cardholders. The blogger calls for a compromise.

As everyone probably knows, credit scores play a very important role in an individual’s personal finances. It can determine how much interest one will need to pay and even whether they will be granted a loan or not in the first place. The credit score, though most might not be fully aware of it, affects a person’s lifestyle and standard of living simply because of the number of financing options available to you depends on it.

This week’s round-up will focus on the blogs that talked about credit history, credit rating, and the tips that will help your record. Essentially, the important aspect that can affect your credit score is outlined here:

Jim Wang @ Bargaineering wrote a useful post titled, “How to Build Your Credit History with Tradelines“. He starts the blog post by simply stating that getting a good credit history depends on how you act when given credit. This particular article goes into the core of what goes on in establishing credit history. Tips on how you can use tradelines to build a good record are also outlined here.

David @ My Two Dollars tries to help a reader prevent their credit record from being damaged in his post, “What Damages Your Credit Score the Most?” His answer to this is straightforward: late and missing payments. The credit score always comes back to a person’s ability and willingness to pay their financial obligations. This ability will show in one’s payment history.

JC @ Get Rich Slowly posted an interesting article, “Should Repaying Debt Be an Obsession?” As mopst are probably aware, the economic crisis today occurred not only because of banks’ careless behavior, it actually became worse because the average American simply has too much debt. So is going to the other extreme the solution to today’s problem? JC doesn’t seem to think so; he states that balance is important.

Carrie Reader @ Hints Club shares her thoughts about getting a good FICO Score with her article, “Good FICO Credit Score? Tips to Getting the Most Out of Your Home Mortgage Loan with Good Credit“. Well, the title actually says it all. The blog post basically talks about how homeowners can take advantage of their good credit history with the four tips outlined in the article.