How do you think your credit habits compare to other Americans? Today CNN.com’s “Quick Vote” question is “Are you leaking cash by carrying credit card debt?” As of right now, 229,380 people responded – nearly a quarter million – and although this poll is not scientific and only covers CNN.com readers, I believe it’s a fair representation of the credit card debt in America. Here is how people responded:

• 50% responded “No I pay my balance monthly”… so half of Americans have zero credit card debt.
• 8% said they do have a balance, but it’s less than $1,000.
• 14% replied say they have a balance of less than $5,000.
• 9% responded they have less than $10,000.
• 20% said their credit card debt is more than $10,000.

Are these figures bad or not? Well of course, less debt the better. But it is important to note that many people today finance “big ticket” items like cars, medical procedures, and others on their credit cards entirely, because they are able to score a lower interest rate than, say, a traditional bank loan like they did in the past. Others merely float debt that they could otherwise pay off, because they have it on a 0% balance transfer credit card… so for strategic purposes they do not pay it off even though they have the money. In those ways, these figures may be inaccurate since they are including quasi auto loans, home renovations, and more which are on credit cards.

Whatever the case, one thing is for sure and that is that the above numbers are another example of how the working middle class is being squeezed, and often find the need to resort to credit to pick up the slack.

For years congress has been trying to pass a Credit Card Bill of Rights but the Senate repeatedly shoots it down. The Federal Reserve knew something had to be done so they took matters into their own hands on Thursday and set guidelines for the most controversial practices creditors do today. Some of the highlights are:

• Unless a payment is more than 30 days late, creditors will no longer be able to change interest rates on existing balances.
• There must be at least a 21 day grace period to make a payment before the credit card company can slap you with a late fee.
• Currently when you make a payment, it is applied to the lower interest rate balances first (such as 0% balance transfer offers) before it is applied to your higher interest rate balances such as normal purchases. Once the rules are in effect, it will be the opposite, and all payments (beyond the minimum payment) will be applied to the higher interest rate balances first.
• Customers must be notified 45 days before any changes to terms, such as fees and APR. Currently credit card companies are only required to give a 15 day notice.
• Double Cycle billing is prohibited. This is a practice where some creditors calculate interest based on the balance of the previous two months. So you may pay off your balance one month, but the next month if you carry a balance, you would be charged interest for both months.

Unfortunately, these rules won’t go into effect until July 2010. If you agree with us that there needs to be reform before then, contact your congressman and senator to tell them how you feel.

As we are all painfully aware, healthcare costs have been climbing double digit rates. We’re paying more money for less care. You would think so called “non-profit” hospitals would try to help us out. Not the case with Kaleida Health, which operates five hospitals across the state of New York. They now market lines of credit to cash strapped customers.

G.E. Money’s CareCredit is what they’ve been pushing, which they claim lets you “pay for it over time with low monthly payments that are easy to fit into your monthly budget.” Obviously I am pro-credit, but this is crossing the line. We should not be taking advantage of the sick by profiting off them every way we can.

In 2007, Americans spent an estimated $250 billion on out of pocket medical expenses. It’s no wonder 24% of that spending is going on credit cards.  Many of these people put those charges on their cards simply to earn rewards, and they pay their bills monthly, but still many are not.  Fortunately, none of the major credit cards are marketed for healthcare.  We can try and make the credit card companies the scapegoat, but honestly they aren’t to blame. It’s the politicians, pharmaceuticals, insurance companies, and “non-profit” hospitals like Kaleida that have pushed us to the brink, forcing us to find other ways to pay our healthcare costs.