KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- You've probably heard about the big changes President Obama is proposing to help credit card consumers.
    
But our Fact Finder Team learned some credit card companies are doing all they can to get more money out of you before the credit card reform bill takes effect.

Companies are doing some research of their own when it comes to new customers.

“They're making some decisions about who do they really want to offer credit cards to based on some of those spending practices.  And the result of that is when for the most part you have to be invited to get a credit card, the result of that is there will be a lot

Bethel says that doesn't mean those pesky offers won't completely stop coming in the mail, but credit card companies will be more selective when it comes to their customers.

Studies show some consumers use credit cards as part of their cash flow.  Financial experts say that's not a good practice and it will be harder to do that in the future.

“Use savings as part of your cash flow vehicle and that would mean delayed gratification in many cases as well which may sound un-American but that's probably the answer,” said Bethel.

Bethel says you should use fewer cards and manage your debt better.
    
Fact Finder learned it's also important to read all the fine print to learn about rate increases and hidden fees.

“I think it's really easy to have a lot of credit cards and not know very much about any one of them.  And so I think I would advocate getting to know a little bit more about the cards you have.  And perhaps parsing the list of credit cards to a more manageable number that you can really stay on top of in the future,” said Bethel.

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