If you’re like me, you’re probably not thinking about how much credit you have left on your card each time that you swipe. Sure, you may have a general idea. But it’s all too easy to forget how quickly a latte here and a take-out lunch there can drain your account.

At least, that’s my excuse. By the time I finally log on to a computer and check my balance, it’s usually too late. I’ve overindulged in a string of $5 and $10 purchases that seemed harmless at the time, and, now, I’m one more month away from paying off my credit card balance in full.

Luckily, I may not have that excuse for long. Last summer, MasterCard released the high-tech interactive “display card” in Europe and Asia, and now they say that it’s headed to the U.S. sometime in the

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The number of hits required for internet scammers hoping to dupe people into revealing their credit card details online is minimal, an expert has claimed.

According to Consumer Watch spokesman Paul Tully, unsolicited emails offering large payments should trigger alarm bells for consumers.

He explained that scams often require a hit rate of less than one per cent.

“People are induced to pay thousands of dollars upfront to a foreign bank account as a bogus release fee for enormous sums of money,” Mr Tully said.

The warning comes after an email scam hit inboxes across Australia in which it claimed British prime minister David Cameron had awarded the recipient a credit card with £2 million ($3.28 million).

Earlier this year, it was reported that up to 40,000 shoppers might have had the details of their credit cards exposed after a breach on soap maker Lushs website an event that resulted in the temporary shutdown of the online portal.

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If you’ve ever applied for a credit card, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the “household income” section on the application form.

And when you came across it, you may have wondered how to fill it in. If you were a kid, you may have added your parents income to your non-existent income.

Or perhaps you combined the income of your roommate(s) or spouse. And while

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A new report from credit bureau Experian revealed that the average consumer had 1.97 bank cards and more than $4,200 in debt as of the end of 2010.

This former number has fallen nearly 23 percent from 2007, likely due to credit card issuers tightening their grip on card holders by cutting credit lines and forcing them to pay off more debt.

This has caused credit utilization to rise, with card holders using an average of 30 percent of their total available bank card limit, a near 10 percent jump since 2007.

And if you didn’t already know, credit utilization plays a huge role in determining our credit scores, including both the popular Fico score and the lesser known VantageScore credit score.

The second most important factor in scoring as far as Fico is concerned is amounts owed, just slightly less important than payment history (how to raise your credit score).

In fact, it makes up 30 percent of your Fico score – for VantageScore, this utilization accounts for 23 percent of scoring, while balances make up another 15 percent of your score.

So it’s pretty darn important to keep both utilization and balances low.

Maxine Sweet, vice president of public education at Experian, warned that consumers could potentially hurt their credit scores by carrying credit card balances and utilizing a significant portion of their available credit.

If you’ve found yourself in such a situation, consider either making a payment plan to pay off the credit card debt, or consider a balance transfer, which can it make it a whole lot easier to pay off the debt without being hit with pesky finance charges.

With credit card debt being at an all-time high, it is not surprising that many cardholders are choosing to cancel some of their cards to avoid debt and simplify the management of multiple credit accounts. Repaying a large amount of debt and repairing the credit score after being a victim of credit card debt can be a process that takes years to complete. Thus, many cardholders choose to simply close their credit accounts, rather than risk accumulating even more debt in the near future. Although this may seem to be the wisest decision, there are several factors that need to be considered before a credit card account is canceled.

Current Interest Rates

While low interest rates may seem useless to an individual who is in debt and cannot afford to make credit card repayments, they are an increasing rarity in today’s credit card market. I

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