From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The credit card economy comes home to roost.

Hello again, I'm Mormon Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

The daily look at the issues, Americans care about most.

Credit card companies made big money by offering high limits and low interest rates to millions

of U.S. consumers. But times have changed. Now, when other businesses are desperate for customers,

credit card companies are reducing credit lines, jacking up rates, even closing accounts.

But when their best customers charge a lot but payback only a little,

how do they decide who to get rid of and who to keep on the hook?

What happens when an industry that extends easy credit in good times has to contract?

Is anyone looking out for consumers?

On reporter's notebook later on, Endangered Languages.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation, the John

D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine

T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, dedicated to the idea that

all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. Information at gatesfoundation.org.

Hello again. Warren Alney, back with To the Point. Two-thirds of the U.S. economy depends on

consumer spending and credit cards account for a big proportion of that.

But with more and more people struggling to pay their bills, credit card companies are now making it harder.

What are the unintended consequences of contracting the credit card economy?

Is there need for reform? On Reporters' Notebook, this day before St. Patrick's Day, will look at Irish and other

...