It seems that the housing market was just the beginning of the bubble and all personal finance products will continue to get hit hard by the credit crisis. While the government pours hundreds of billions of dollars into the failing financial system, credit card issuers are aggressively closing inactive credit card accounts in a move to reduce their risk exposure. From the WSJ:

“Most major issuers, including Chase, Bank of America, American Express and Citibank have been slashing credit lines and closing the accounts of those who don’t spend on their card regularly. While these issuers are required to notify you in writing of an account closing, there’s no requirement that they do so in advance. Even when they do give early notice, the only way a cardholder can stop their account from getting shut down is to start spending again.”

The author correctly points out that this could adversely affect consumers’ credit scores across the board. When a credit card company closes an inactive account, the account owner’s ratio of debt to available credit falls. According to FICO, a consumer with a 720 credit score is likely to drop to somewhere in the 600s.