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No doubt you've heard a lot about credit card companies and statistics as the U.S. economy continues to falter and consumers are really feeling the "credit squeeze." To appreciate just how big the credit card industry really is, please take a moment to review the information compiled by the CreditCard.com staff and presented in an article entitled "Credit card statistics, industry facts, debt statistics" by Ben Woolsey and Matt Schulz:

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-industry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-1276.php

This article is a real "eye-opener" - as exemplified by these three excerpts from the hundreds of items presented:

1. In 2006, the United States Census Bureau determined that there were nearly 1.5 billion credit cards in use in the U.S. A stack of all those credit cards would reach more than 70 miles into space -- and be almost as tall as 13 Mount Everests. (Source: NY Times, Feb. 23, 2009);

2. At the end of 2008, Americans' credit card debt reached $972.73 billion, up 1.12% from 2007. That number includes both general purpose credit cards and private label credit cards that aren't owned by a bank. (Source: Nilson Report, April 2009); and

3. 77 percent of surveyed credit card issuers (17 of 22) answered "Yes" to the question "Can you increase my APR or change my terms 'any time for any reason'?" This includes all Top Ten issuers - even Citibank, which pledges not to change a customer's terms before the card's expiration date. (Source: Consumer Action credit card survey, July 2008).

I dare say that only a small percentage of credit card users were aware that their rates or terms could be changed at "any time for any reason."

Were you?

- Ed Smith, Publisher
The EHS Letter Manual