Earlier this week, we told you that hackers had infiltrated Citibank’s security system and gained the sensitive account information of more than 200,000 of their customers. What we didn’t know then was that Citigroup officials had discovered the security breach three weeks earlier and failed to notify their customers.

With recent news that Sony's Playstation network has been hacked, the video gaming system's 77 million users are now worrying that their personal information—including credit card details—may have been stolen.

And the alarm goes right round the world - we hear from concerned gamer Perry Davis in Buffalo, New York and technology journalist and expert, Adrian Mars.

Americans have started buying again; this past December, they pulled out their credit cards, and charged their holiday gifts. There's currently $800 billion on credit cards. This may be good for the economy, but it is it good for your wallet?

Gone are the days of credit card recruiters on campus giving away stuffed animals to any first-year students willing to sign up for easy credit: New regulations on card issuers require any cardholder under 21 years old to have an adult co-signer on the card.

This month, the latest rules in the federal credit card overhaul come into effect. Credit card issuers, however, are already finding creative loopholes. Go check your mailbox: There's a good chance you have a letter from your credit card company or bank telling you about new rules and "improved" new features on your account. Some of those were actually mandated by Congress; others are workarounds to earn more money on new fees. 

We want to help you find out what new fees and charges consumers have to watch out for now that the credit card overhaul is taking effect. Tell us what your card company is asking you to sign up for. Or how they are pitching their new features. Send us pictures of the letters even. Or, tell us any stories for paying too much or getting overcharged by a credit card company. 

 

President Obama signed the CARD Act back in May 2009, but the new regulations on credit card issuers took until today to come into effect. The law was designed to protect consumers from many of the hidden fees, rate changes and small print traps that cost Americans $15 billion each year, but some aspects of the bill changed along the way. Now that it's here, how will it affect your monthly statements?

All this week we'll be taking a look at how fine print in the lives of consumers affects our ability to get out of debt. We kick off the series with Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel of the TARP. Warren discusses her role with TARP, a proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency and how the American middle class has been slowly buried under more and more fine print.

 

• Washington Takeout: Our own Todd Zwillich joins us from Washington to discuss what may have made the cut in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's health care reform bill, due to be unveiled later this morning.
  
• Business Takeout: Louise Story, finance reporter for The New York Times, says a new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts [PDF, 910k] finds that 100% (yes, all) of the credit cards issued by the nation's 12 biggest banks are in violation of the recently passed Credit Card Act. The new law goes into effect in February.
  
• Sports Takeout: The Takeaway's sports correspondent, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, recaps last night's World Series game: The Philadelphia Phillies came to the Bronx and routed the New York Yankees 6-1.

• Business Takeout: New York Times business correspondent Louise Story tells us about a new investment fund focusing on companies with women on their boards of directors. 
• Sports Takeout: Takeaway sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin recaps Monday Night Football and previews the start of the NBA season. 
• Listener Takeout: We hear your responses on living without credit cards and our reliance on older relatives during economic hard times.

• Washington Takeout: Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich joins us with last night's startling announcement from Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that a version of the "public option," considered nearly dead for several weeks, will wind up in the Senate version of health care reform.
• Listener Takeout: We talk to listener Kelly, from Charlotte, N.C., who called us with her story of going bankrupt from credit card debt.

Last week, we looked at how some banks were canceling consumer credit cards without warning and how consumers could avoid it by using their cards more. That discussion sparked a debate about whether people can get by without credit cards at all. We speak to two people who are doing just that: Joel Westendorf of Los Angeles; and Andrea Hermitt of Atlanta. Takeaway contributor Beth Kobliner lays out some of the logistical benefits and drawbacks of life without plastic.

• Washington Takeout: The Takeaway's Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, reports on health care reform in the House of Representatives as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looks for the votes she needs for the public option.
• Business Takeout: WNYC reporter Lisa Chow talks about the latest in the trial of two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers accused of fraud just ahead of the economy's collapse in 2007.
• Listener Takeout: Listeners respond to Wednesday's conversation about banks closing credit card accounts without warning.

Consumers are reporting this week that Citibank recently closed some of its Shell-branded Mastercard accounts with only days' notice and no stated reason for the cards being canceled. We ask Adam Levin, chairman and co-founder of Credit.com and former director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, how consumers can protect themselves from such practices, and what it says about banks that are closing accounts this way.

Americans paid off $21.6 billion in credit card debt and other consumer loans in July. That is the biggest decline in consumer debt since 1943, when the Federal Reserve started keeping track. The Takeaway's business contributor, Louise Story, a finance reporter for the New York Times, says the economy will fundamentally change if Americans take on a new attitude about spending money they don’t have.

The first phase of the "Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009" goes into effect this week. While some major provisions of the law won't kick in until next year, credit card companies have to make some immediate changes, including giving cardholders advance notice about interest rate hikes. Personal finance expert and The Takeaway's finance contributor Beth Kobliner joins us to help explain the new rules.

U.S. banks stand to collect $38.5 billion from increasingly strict overdraft fees this year, and credit card users are seeing their cards' interest rates rocket higher for no apparent reason. As financial institutions try to increase their revenues using fine print and fees, financial guru Gary Belsky talks us through what you can and can't do in response.

Lawmakers have touted the credit card reform bill heading to the president's desk as "a victory for every American who holds a credit card." But Donna Rosato, a senior writer at Money Magazine, says consumer behavior is unlikely to change. She cites studies that say the mere act of carrying a card (credit or debit) increases the likelihood that you’ll spend more money, pay more for a specific item, and lose track of what you've spent. She also says this new bill will force credit card companies to raise fees and even add annual fees to make a profit. Ms. Rosato joins The Takeaway to talk about the reform bill — and how you should reform your own habits.

The Senate voted 90 to 5 in favor of putting new restrictions on the credit card industry. In an effort to protect consumers’ rights, the legislation would put an end to some of the practices that have pushed so many Americans into an unprecedented amount of debt. (Today, credit and charge card debt is close to $1 trillion.) For a look at how the new restrictions may affect we got here and what the credit card industry has done to perpetuate this kind of debt The Takeaway is joined by Dan Ariely. He is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University. His updated and expanded version of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions is in stores now.

A bill to reform the practices of credit card companies is likely to end up on President Obama's desk before Memorial Day. So what's in this bill, and what does it mean for the average credit card user? To help us understand how this bill will affect consumers, we turn to finance writer Beth Kobliner, author of the book Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties.

Elizabeth Warren, Chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel on TARP and professor at Harvard Law School, continues her conversation with The Takeaway. Before she was monitoring government expenditure, she wrote several books on personal finance including, All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan. So before she left we wanted to get her take on personal finance and how the nation's families are affected by tight credit markets.

Click here to hear Elizabeth Warren's discussion of TARP and her role overseeing the multi-trillion dollar fund.

To read an excerpt from Elizabeth Warren's book, All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan, click here.