Pay off cards with low balances. This will create some breathing room in the budget that may be needed to keep up with the higher minimums on your other credit cards.

The range of scores is more intuitive to the consumer. Lenders will have a choice about which scoring methodology to use. Whether they accept the new system will depend on pricing, and how widespread the new scores are accepted.

The process is much more convenient if you stick with your current lender.

Conventional wisdom says if you're getting a large refund, it's a bad thing, that you've lent money to the government for free for the past year. If your refund is the only way you can save, who's to say it's a bad idea? It may not be the best way to save, but it's better than nothing at all.

Sometimes that difference between short-term rates and long-term rates expands and sometimes it narrows. That difference has narrowed in the last two years, which hampers banks' ability to profit from the difference.

[In 2002, rates on both types of cards are nearly certain to rise. Even fixed-rate cards are no shelter.] The jockeying around to find a low-rate card is really only half the equation, ... The real thing to do is pay down debt.