On Tuesday, May 20th, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit determined that the paper currency currently issued by the US Treasury Department discriminates against the blind. As all bills are the same size and have the same feel, it is impossible for a person without vision to determine the value of a bill.

Additionally, the Treasury Department did not prove it was too burdensome for them to make changes to the bills. Therefore, the Treasury Department will need to decide what it will do next. (Hopefully, the whole decision making process won’t cost more than the actual change.)

In the meanwhile, the editors at Random Stock pondered options for new paper currency. Perhaps bills could have their denominations printed in Braille? Maybe bills could be sized differently based on value? On a more frivolous note, perhaps scratch and sniff money? How would you redesign the paper currency?

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With the economy going…where it’s going, it’s time to start getting serious about protecting your credit. If you think obtaining a mortgage, buying a car, or getting a new credit card is a challenge now, imagine how hard it will become in the next few years! The only way to make sure that your financial future is secure is to do everything you can to protect your credit rating (or improve it).

Make all of your credit card/loan payments on time. This should be common sense, but you would be surprised how many people decide to let their payments slide a month or two when things get hard. If you have been doing this, stop! Even if you only pay the minimum amount due, make sure those bills get paid.

Monitor your credit. You can usually sign up for credit monitoring for a small monthly fee. Monitoring your credit is the best way to make sure that your payments are recorded correctly and that false information is corrected. You would be surprised how often errors are reported to the credit reporting agencies!

Start paying off your debt. Many financial experts advocate paying the most money to the account that has the highest interest rate. This makes sense from a math perspective. From a personal standpoint, I think that paying off the smallest debts first is better. The “paid in full” entry on your credit report helps to raise your score. It also gives you a sense of accomplishment, which will keep you on track while you work to pay off your larger debts.

Don’t take on any new debt unless you absolutely need. The goal is to prove that you are financially responsible—adding to your existing debt has the opposite effect.

Protecting your credit isn’t hard, it just takes dedication!

Soon there might be good news for credit card owners. The Federal Reserve is doing its best to approve new rules that would crack down on the way credit card companies determine their fees. This news, while welcome to those who have credit card debt, is not so welcomed by the credit card companies.

Currently, credit card companies are allowed to determine exactly how much time you are given to pay your monthly bills. The individual companies can increase a person’s interest rate “retroactively” and apply that interest to pre-existing balances. For many people, these interest rate increases are just what will send them over their credit limits and subject them to all sorts of additional finance charges and fees. Some credit card companies practice something called “double billing.” Double billing is where a finance charge is determined by earlier billing cycles.

The new regulations proposed by the Federal Reserve would prevent each of those actions, as well as allow consumers more time to pay their monthly bills. Obviously this plan is welcome by credit card holders, but the credit card companies are less than thrilled. Some financial lobbyists are saying that the Federal Reserve’s proposal represents an intrusion into the credit industry. Of course, the financial lobby was unable to keep the Office of Thrift Supervision from approving rules that are very similar to those proposed by the Federal Reserve.

There is no doubt that, in our present economy, many people rely on credit cards to get them through each month. While there are some who advocate the credit industry becoming more “consumer friendly”, there are others who say that further regulations in the credit industry could result in more people being denied credit and offer them fewer choices of credit card companies.

Which side of this fence do you sit on?