Credit cards and credit reporting was not extraordinarily popular until about 15 years ago. Since then, the credit companies have seen astronomical growth producing some of the biggest companies in the world (i.e CitiBank, Capital One, etc.) But the truth behind credit is scary and the new wave of credit reporting is even more frightening. It used to be that a potential seller would check your credit for a mortgage application, or buying a car, pretty much anything involved with loaning or borrowing money, makes sense right? Well these days merchants review your credit reports for EVERYTHING! Cell phones, job applicants, land line phones, merchant accounts to receive credit cards, online purchases and companies such as Ebay, Amazon, and even when applying to be a roommate with someone, even if paying in cash upfront!

The credit reporting has begun to spiral out of control, if you do not have impeccable credit you may suffer severely in the future. I personally believe this has become a real problem, and I see the demise of credit or at least a credit revolution approaching.

What do I mean? Well first off, credit card companies have a bad habit of propositioning individuals in debt to produce more debt. You're in debt huh? Ill bet you get more credit card applications than anyone else, because they know you need it and they can charge you a bundle for it. But that's a problem, credit card companies are fueling individual debt by giving out credit limits they know people cannot possibly handle. So in addition to fueling individual debt, they are also building what I believe will be the biggest revolution against a way of life sometime in the next 15-20 years.

What happens if the 90 million Americans who owe credit card companies an estimated 50 billion dollars decides they cannot pay? Who picks up the tab? What about when this credit reporting gets to a point where millions of people cannot even get cell phones because of tighter and tighter regulations on who can and cannot buy? Or how about the fact that only 8% of the current floating "credit" out there is backed by cash...I see two options for our future. 1) Either a breakdown of the entire system and a revolution beyond any we have ever seen and hyper-inflation OR 2) a complete restructuring of the way credit card companies can do business. Including a lower ceiling on interest rates in SD, NY, and DE (currently the home to most credit card companies) because they allow the companies to charge up to 32% as opposed to the nationwide average of 23.99%.

Did you know last year was the first year credit was used more than cash? What do you think about credit and our future?