Research, regulation, industry reports

Are you a mean, no-good jerk? Then you are more likely to have a good credit score.

According to a study released Wednesday, people with bad attitudes tend to have higher credit scores, the numbers used by lenders to determine whether to loan money and how much interest to charge. Researchers from Louisiana State University (LSU), Texas Tech University and Northern Illinois University found a link between credit scores and consumers' personalities.

Boy, did that backfire.

I'm talking about Bank of America's new policy of charging its debit-card-using customers $5 a month for that privilege.

And I bet Citi, Wells Fargo and Chase are breathing a huge sigh of relief for just "testing" the debit-card-fee waters in a few states instead of doing what BofA did in one fell swoop.

The reaction from consumers is pretty hostile.

It's no shock that during the devastating economic downturn, a lot of people went from good credit to bad, as job losses and foreclosures took their toll. But here's a surprise: According to FICO data, the number of people with excellent credit didn't fall during the recession -- it grew.

"Many people seem to think that everyone's FICO score must be down these days. However scores have moved in both directions," says Rachel Bell, senior director of global scoring solutions for FICO.

A recent survey by America's Research Group reveals that while 82 percent of U.S. shoppers may rein in their holiday spending a bit compared to last year, more consumers will be avoiding brick-and-mortar stores and placing their orders online.

A Mint.com survey about clothes shopping got my attention this morning -- particularly the statistics on how much people around the country spend every month on clothes and accessories.

On average, according to the survey, people spend between 15 percent and 23 percent of their discretionary spending on the stuff we wear. Not surprisingly, Manhattan ranked No. 1, with folks there doling out 21 percent or $362 a month on fashion. San Francisco is No. 2, and Dallas (which is no surprise to us Texans) came in at No. 3.

Bankruptcy and mortgage studies, plus wildfires

I thought I'd try something new I hope you find useful: Today's reading list. It's headlines and other reports on credit, debt and payments systems that I found newsworthy, interesting or odd enough to be worth passing along.

Imagine if your neighborhood pharmacy could only accept cash because it wasn't allowed to open a checking account and had to pay exorbitant fees on credit card transactions. Same with your favorite spa or local health food store.

All perfectly legitimate businesses. All coping with an unendling string of banking bad dreams.

That's what medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado have repeatedly faced. Colorado voters legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 2000, and since that time, dispensaries have flourished.

The U.S. economy's problems could make it harder for you to get a credit card, according to one chief economist.

If you recently applied for a new credit card, you may have found the bank was more likely to grant your request. And you weren't the only one: A recent pair of reports from the Federal Reserve showed that consumers opened 10 million more credit card accounts in the second quarter of this year (April to June) as banks became more willing to approve borrowers for new credit.

But even if you're celebrating now, don't expect the party to last.

Could social welfare programs be to blame for Americans' tendency to save less and spend more?

Two new studies highlight the different attitudes between the Chinese and Americans toward borrowing and saving.

Gesturing forcefully, and almost Howard Beale-like in his zeal, Rep. Hansen Clarke used his five-minute speech to call on all Americans to cut up their credit cards -- and then whipped out a pair of blue-handled scissors to demonstrate. Roll the tape, C-SPAN!

A warning to credit card holders: The U.S. government's borrowing problems could soon become your borrowing problems.

Right now, in Washington, politicians are fighting over whether to raise the U.S. debt ceiling -- which determines the amount of money that the nation can spend on its debt -- above $14.3 trillion. If the debt ceiling isn't increased, the United States won't have enough money to pay all of its bills. That could result in a default on its financial obligations.

It's Day 1 for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- the new federal agency charged with watching out for consumers when it comes to credit cards and other financial products.

Starting today, consumer complaints about credit cards will be collected by a single government agency -- rather than a hodgepodge of regulators that existed before.

Help us kick the tires on this new complaint system. If you have filed a complaint, let us know how it went. Was the form easy to understand? Did you experience any technical difficulties on the website?

Next time you travel, remember this: Hotels are always a hotspot for credit card fraud scams.

Since I've spent my share of time traveling over the last few months -- for everything from a college buddy's wedding to a family trip to Disney World - stories about credit card scams at hotels have caught my eye recently. Though the scams feature different clever tactics, each has the same intent: getting a hold of a tourist's credit card info.

And they all drive the point home that, no matter how tired you are from travel, no matter how crabby your toddler's being that day, no matter how sunburned you get waiting in line at the water park, you need to keep your guard up when you're traveling.

This week, the Food and Drug Administration revealed the new graphic warning labels that will be slapped on cigarettes by next year. These nine grisly images depict things such as a man smoking through a tracheotomy and a corpse of someone who smoked. Other images include a smoker's rotting teeth, smoke surrounding a baby, and lungs charred by cigarettes.

I wonder what the world would be like if more things came with scary warning labels. What if payday loan stores had a large window decal that said, "May keep you in debt forever!" Or if mortgage companies had to put "Danger of foreclosure if you take out more than you can pay!" on its paperwork.

What do you think--are warning labels the answer for cigarettes? Or risky personal finance tools? Warning labels aren't as important when you already have a solid education about those things. Increase your personal finance smarts by reading my following 10 favorite blog posts from the past week.

Like many personal finance writers and editors, I enjoy reading the latest studies on consumer spending to see if my behavior correlates with recent research.

According to a monthly survey compiled by Sentient Decision Science Inc., called the First Command Financial Behaviors Index, I'm right there with middle-class Americans who are simultaneously paying down old debt while taking on new loans.

Facing 25 online personal finance journalists, President Obama got personal, giving a glimpse into his own financial history -- including the money advice his grandmother gave him and why the $125,000 in student loans he and his wife Michelle racked up was a good investment.

The president was an unscheduled drop-in guest at the Personal Finance Online Summit, an event held Wednesday at the White House. During it, high-level administration economic officials gave an afternoon of on- and off-the-record briefings to an assorted group of online personal finance editors, myself included. The idea for the summit came because, presidential message adviser Stephanie Cutter said, "Americans are looking to take charge of their personal finance issues ... and they're looking to online sources to get it done."

No major news was broken, which is why I'm writing a blog item rather than a news story, but the event had some fascinating moments, leading off with the president's salute to his grandmother's common-sense money advice -- and why in one case it was smart to ignore it.

Get turned down for a promotion? Feel like it's you against the world? If so, you're more likely to soothe your soul with a credit card purchase than a cash purchase, according to research published in March 2011 in the "Social Psychological and Personality Science" journal.

According to the study's authors, Nathan C. Pettit (Cornell University) and Niro Sivanathan (London Business School), the more you feel threatened, the more likely you are to avoid further pain by paying for a desired item with easy credit instead of precious cash.

Just a quick note to let the personal finance bloggers in the audience know that Taking Charge has been selected to host next Monday's version of the Carnival of Personal Finance. It will be the 295th edition of the weekly carnival, making it one of the oldest and certainly the most widely known in its genre. We've hosted four previous editions.

That does it. I'm using my elbows from now on to punch in my PIN number at an ATM.

Headline writer on both sides of the pond are having great sport scaring the public with the results of a new study showing that ATM keypads are as filthy as public toilets.

Will 2011 be the year of living frugally?

Or will the buy-it-now and get-the-latest-gadget trend continue? There is much disagreement about whether Americans have really changed their thinking about frugality and spending.

Of course, some people are being forced to change their ways -- because they lost their jobs or they've gotten in way over their heads in debt. Some economic watchers say once the economy roars back and unemployment declines, many of those who turned frugal will revert to their old spending habits. Others argue that the 2008 Wall Street crisis gave us such a wake-up call and created so much mistrust of the global financial system that we won't soon forget it.

There's evidence on both sides of the argument.

Come Jan. 1, a new provision in the federal government's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will prohibit the purchase of over-the-counter (OTCs) medications from HSAs, FSAs, and similar accounts unless you have a doctor's prescription.

So that means paying for those remedies for tummy troubles and throbbing heads from your HSA or FSA will be off-limits. Your attempt to purchase the products with your HSA or FSA debit card might be blocked, or if the transaction does go through, you might need another stiff drink when you see the stiff penalty you might incur.

But last week, a consortium of pharmacists and grocers asked that the rule be rescinded.