My Visa card came into the mail today with a $9,000 credit limit. That will be approximately 24 percent of my possible income next year.

Doesn't that seem ridiculous?

I have had friends pile on credit card debt like the Cleveland sports fans pile on heartbreak. It's spending money that you only pay back two percent every month. That so much better than that $213 Columbia Gas bill I got.

But with great power comes great responsibility.

The plan after that is to use the card for rewards points, and pay the full balance off each month.

About that $9,000 credit limit, it doesn't make sense. I probably could have gotten an even higher credit limit if I would have told the woman at Chase my parent's household income rather than mine.

Am I underestimating the amount of work credit card companies do before approving people for credit cards? Or am I being naive about how credit card companies make there money?

Check out this clip from the documentary Maxed Out.

Watch that entire documentary before thinking about getting a credit card.

Last month Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law legislation that will reform the credit card industry.

The law will:

• Ban "any time for any reason" and "universal default" increases on existing balances. Companies will only be able to raise the interest rate on your existing balance if you pay more than 60 days late. (They will still be able to raise the interest rate on your future purchases or transfers)
• Prohibit interest rate hikes during the first year of your contract and require that any low promotional or "teaser" rates remain in effect for at least six months
• Require any payment you make above the minimum go first to the balance with the highest interest - helping you to pay down debt more quickly
• Give you 45-day notice for a rate increase on future purchases and give you adequate time to pay off your existing balance at the old rate if you decide to close your account rather than accept the increase
• Eliminate late bill mailings, Sunday due dates, and other tricks that result in late payment penalties
  Prohibit overlimit fees for approved transactions unless you have asked for this feature on your account
• Require that "penalty" fees be reasonable and proportional to the company's costs, and that any "penalty" interest rate be reduced to previous level after six months of on-time payments.
• Ban double-cycle billing
• Protect young consumers from debt by requiring that no one under 21 be given a credit card unless either they have a co-signer over 21, or can demonstrate independent ability to repay
• Restrict aggressive marketing of credit to college students
• Restrict fees on "fee harvester" subprime cards.

For more information on credit cards, visit the Americans for Fairness in Lending Web site.

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