This past week brought some good news, some bad news and some interesting news. The good news is that credit card delinquency rates are down. Actually, I think that qualifies as fantastic news! The bad news involves skimming at gas pumps and an unintended negative consequence of the Credit CARD Act of 2009.

The interesting news is that there are three new travel credit cards on the market. Let’s start with that.

New credit cards reflect consumer push-back

This is an interesting take on three new consumer credit cards: The Bank Of America Travel Rewards card, the BankAmericard Privileges credit card with Travel Rewards, and the Fairmont Visa Signature Card from JPMorgan Chase. The reporter notes that these new cards have some good features, though none are terribly comprehensive. If you like travel cards, read this and see what you think about the new kids on the block. @ChicagoTribune

Prepaid Debit Cards: Here a Fee, There a Fee

I’m a faithful reader of the New York Times Bucks Blog because it always has some thoughtful analysis of personal finance topics. Last week in my news roundup I included the Bankrate study that looked at prepaid cards. Here, Ann Carns does a good job explaining why you should read all the fine print before getting a prepaid card. @NYTimes

How scammers can steal your credit card information at the gas pump

Gas prices are going down and that’s cause for celebration. But the bad news is that you still need to be careful when you pay at the pump. Thieves use skimmers to steal your information from your bank card. Consumers aren’t the only ones who can lose money. A CBS news correspondent says that skimming costs the financial industry more than $350,000 a day. @sharylattkisson @CBSNews

TransUnion: National Credit Card Delinquency Rate Ticks Down, Reversing Two-Quarter Trend

It’s good to hear that the national credit card delinquency rate (the rate of borrowers 90 or more days past due) has dropped a little from the end of 2011 to the end of 2012. Also, the average credit card debt per borrower in the fourth quarter of 2011 decreased by $242 and is down to $4,962 per borrower. @MarketWatch @TransUnion

Stay-at-home mom fights new credit card rule

I think we all knew this issue would become a major problem for stay-at-home parents. When the Credit CARD Act passed in 2009, there was a clause that required card issuers to start considering individual income, not household income, when someone applies for a card. This part of the CARD Act became effective last October. This article gives a thorough and revealing look at what happens when this practice is put into place. @CNNMoney @BlakeEllis

Image: 401k, via Flickr

These days, there are significant consumer protections in place for Americans, but at least one segment of the population might have a little trouble as a result of the increased safeguards against predatory or misleading lending practices.

One of the provisions of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act required lenders to consider individuals’ income when they apply for a credit card so as to ensure they can afford their payments, but this has been problematic for many stay-at-home parents, according to a report from CNNMoney. Stay-at-home parents who rely on their partner’s income to cover their expenses might have need of a credit card in their own name, but will be denied unless they can prove to lenders that they have their own source of income.

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Experts have noted that one way around this problem is for stay-at-home parents to open a card with their partner’s name on it as well, but this can be concerning for a different reason. For instance, if the couple were to separate or divorce, having both partners being co-signers on the same account can create friction and even financial problems, regardless of the intentions with which they entered into the agreement.

Further, for those who stay at home to raise their kids, not having a credit card in their own name can be problematic because it might adversely affect their credit standing.

As a result of these problems, there has been some amount of pushback from stay-at-home parents, who are now campaigning and petitioning federal agencies to change the rules so that those who do not have their own income might, under special circumstances, be able to get credit cards in their own name, the report said. Already, the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which oversees the lending industry and is in charge of enforcing the Credit CARD Act, says it is examining the way the current rules affect stay-at-home parents.

“We recognize that stay-at-home spouses have significant financial responsibilities and play an important role in the U.S. economy,” CFPB spokeswoman Jen Howard told the news agency.

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Overall, these federal protections have been a boon to consumers, but the CFPB has proposed a number of changes and new rules that will better serve Americans in how they deal with their finances going forward.

Image: Leonid Mamchenkov, via Flickr

A Redditer recently posted this message from a credit issuer, warning that the customer would owe nothing and that the APR on the account would increase by up to 0% if a minimum payment wasn’t received:

Many of you might be wondering why an issuer would remind a customer that they wouldn’t be penalized for a late payment and why this reminder was sent in the first place. Guess what? It has us confused too.

[Free Resource: Check your credit for free before applying for a credit card]

Have you ever received a confusing or unnecessary message from your credit card company? Email your stories and examples to creditexperts@credit.com and we could write about it!

In early 2010, the regulations designed to help young adults avoid taking on large amounts of costly credit card debt went into effect, but evidence suggests that little has changed in terms of lenders’ pursuit of these lucrative young consumers.

The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act was designed to help limit the exposure of those under the age of 21 to credit cards, specifically by requiring them to either have an adult co-signer on an account they open, or else provide adequate proof of income to show they can afford such an account. But that hasn’t really happened as planned, according to a new study from Professor Jim Hawkins of the University of Houston Law Center. Lenders have been getting around the various requirements put forth by the federal regulation in a number of ways.

[Free Resource: Check your credit for free before applying for a credit card]

For example, 68 percent of college students under the age of 21 have received credit card offers by mail in the past year, as the law only prohibits marketing to youngsters in certain ways on campus, not overall, the report said. Further, 40 percent of respondents noted that they’ve seen lenders giving gifts to student since the Credit CARD Act took full effect, even though this practice is expressly prohibited by the law.

“Most troubling, students are still qualifying for credit cards without demonstrating an ability to repay the debt,” Hawkins said. “My study found that 27 percent of students under 21 who were applying by themselves for credit cards listed loans as part of their income to qualify for the card.”

And though the act brought greater scrutiny to agreements between lenders and either universities themselves or associated groups—like those for alumni—it seems the regulation did little to actually affect those deals, the report said. About 64 percent of the 300 such agreements studied by Hawkins remained unchanged from 2009 to 2010, and while many were also terminated altogether, only two specifically cited the Credit CARD Act as the reason why.

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Critics have noted in the past that college students have been able to get around the co-signer or sufficient income requirements for opening a new account by having an older friend help them open the account, or through lenders not being especially stringent in determining what constitutes “adequate” income.

Image: Tulane Public Relations, via Flickr

Federal laws now prohibit certain types of marketing for credit cards that targets consumers under the age of 21, but lenders are still working around many protections and finding ways to continue extending offers to young adults.

Though the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act prevents many of credit card issuers’ favorite marketing tricks from being used on college campuses, a lot of issuers are still finding ways to circumvent the new rules, according to a report from the Columbia Free-Times. One of the largest protections put forth by that 2009 law requires that young adults who want their own credit card either have a co-signer over the age of 21 or otherwise provide adequate proof of income. And the latter loophole is the one lenders target, because of how difficult it is to define.

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“When you really take a close look at the CARD Act, the eligibility requirements are not nearly as strict as one would have thought they would be,” University of South Carolina law professor Eboni Nelson told the newspaper. “You don’t have to show your ability to pay the full $1,000 or $2,000 credit limit [for example]. You may just have to pay the $25 or $50 monthly minimum payment, which is a very, very low threshold as far as being able to qualify on your own for a credit card.”

In addition, students can even claim projected future earnings – like from a summer job or work-study program – as income when they sign up, the report said. Experts say this is particularly concerning because in many cases, that’s guaranteeing debt with money they don’t have.

These days, millions of college students leave school with large amounts of credit card debt in their names as well as tens of thousands of dollars or more in outstanding student loans, and these two concerns make it extremely difficult for many to establish any sort of financial independence soon after they graduate from school.

[Student Loans: Research and compare options for student loans at Credit.com]

For this reason, experts caution that students should do all they can to avoid racking up sizable debts while still in college, because they may not have the financial ability or acumen to properly handle these accounts.

Waiting until they get out of college to start borrowing on credit cards for anything beyond an emergency is usually a better course of action for students.

Image: Joe Shlabotnik, via Flickr