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Consumers who worked diligently to reduce debt during the recession could now be on a more sound financial footing and interested in obtaining a new credit card. Fortunately for them, many financial institutions are increasing their lending for new accounts.

The value of new credit card accounts being issued by lenders rose by more than 35 percent on a year-over-year basis in March, according to the latest monthly statistics from Atlanta-based credit monitoring firm Equifax. This increase is due both to the number of new accounts being issued and the value of those accounts, as competition between banks for new borrowers has prompted most to increase the lines of credit on these accounts.

In addition, financial institutions are also slackening requirements for other lines of credit and therefore increasing the amount they lend across all products, the report said. Overall, the amount consumers borrowed during the monthly rose more than 15 percent over March 2009 to $167 billion.

However, consumers who worked diligently to avoid credit card debt during the recession may have changed their spending habits, and may only want to use a new credit card account sparingly.

The cost of processing transactions made with debit and credit cards can sometimes be high, and many businesses are now telling consumers that they will no longer accept this payment method.

A growing number of businesses across the country are now warning customers that they will stop accepting debit and credit card payments because the fees charged to them by payment processing networks have become too much to bear, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times. Typically, credit card interchange fees can amount to about 2 percent of a purchase, and these charges can add up to several thousand dollars for even the smallest businesses.

The latest major company to do so is financial giant John Hancock, which recently informed long-term care insurance customers that it would soon only accept payments for policies made by check or automatic withdrawal from a checking account, the report said. In a letter to customers, it specifically said fees associated with the billing method were too high.

Consumers who are looking to get out of debt may actually benefit from fewer businesses accepting credit card payments, as it will force them to use alternative payment methods.

Those who were successful in their previous attempts to get out of debt due to the state of the economy and their personal finances may now be feeling good enough about their standing to acquire a new credit card. And for the first time in three years, some lenders were willing to grant them new accounts.

During the 12-month period ending on February 28, 2011, 25 percent of the nation's top credit card lenders eased their underwriting requirements, granting consumers with lower credit scores more access to new accounts, according to the latest annual report from the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. This was the first time since 2008 that standards eased, as the national recession previously caused many to drastically increase underwriting standards.

Still, the latest period saw standards increase overall, as 31 percent of issuers held their requirements steady, while 44 percent boosted them, the report said. This was still down from the 81 percent that increased requirements the previous year.

Increased standards may have been what led all major lenders to experience significant drops in both delinquency and default over the last year, as many financially troubled borrowers were unable to obtain new lines of credit.

Consumers who want to reduce debt may have trouble doing so if they are affected by credit card fraud, and a new study found that lenders may not do enough to prevent this type of crime from taking place.

While the nation's largest credit card lenders tend to do a good job of clearing up any instances of fraudulent credit card debt once they take place, they still have difficulties in preventing it from happening in the first place, according to a new study from Javelin Strategy and Research. As a consequence, this type of fraud costs lenders about $37 billion a year.

"Security and fraud detection are the consumer’s top concern when selecting and staying with a credit card issuer," said James Van Dyke, president and founder of Javelin. "Banks need to work hand in hand with their customers to stay ahead of identity threats and implement the right security measures to best protect sensitive cardholder data."

Last month, Citibank – one of the nation's biggest credit card lenders – was hit with a data breach that allowed thieves to steal $2.7 million from about 3,400 customers, complicating any consumer attempts to become debt free.

In an effort to entice some of the nation's more well-off consumers into once again taking on more credit card debt, many of the top lenders in the U.S. have begun sending out offers for new accounts in far greater numbers than last year.

Mintel Comperemedia recently released figures that show the number of credit card offers sent out by the nation's largest lenders rose to more than 1.4 billion in the first quarter of the year, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. This was an increase of 69 percent from the 826 million offers sent out during the first quarter of 2010. Most of these offers also come with attractive initial rates and lower startup fees.

But at the same time, the vast majority of those offers were sent to more affluent consumers, the report said. In all, about two-thirds of all offers were mailed to households that made more than $75,000 dollars per year, and 59 percent of mailings were for accounts that carried some sort of incentive.

"The demand for these customers is incredibly high right now," Megan Bramlette, a credit card consultant at Auriemma Consulting Group, told the newspaper. "I figure I can get 80,000 miles a year on the card, which, combined with the bonus miles, is enough to get a business-class ticket anywhere in the world."

The increases over the past year are significant, but still considerably lower than levels observed prior to the onset of the recession, the report said. The 1.4 billion offers is less than the 1.8 billion observed in the fourth quarter of 2007. However, the proportion of offers for rewards accounts has nearly doubled from the 30 percent observed in the first quarter of 2007.

Most of the rewards offers are specifically targeted for consumers in the top one-third of all credit ratings – those between 720 and the maximum of 850, the report said. However, all Americans have seen the number of offers they've received increase at least slightly, an indication that major lenders are once again slackening standards for borrowers who have worked to get out of debt fast.

During the recession, many consumers saw their credit card balances tumble both because of vastly increased incidences of charged off accounts, as well as more borrowers who took greater efforts to reduce debt as their money problems increased.

Though it initially reassured customers that their credit card accounts would not be affected by a major data breach, one of the nation's top lenders recently told federal lawmakers that it actually suffered millions of dollars worth of losses.

Citi revealed that the hacking effort that exposed more than 360,000 of its North American credit card customers to identity theft resulted in more than $2.7 million in fraudulent credit card debt, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. In all, crooks were able to rip off more than 3,400 accounts, an average loss of $794 per customer.

This comes after the company originally told borrowers that their accounts were unlikely to be accessed by the hackers, because they did not gain any critical information such as consumers' Social Security numbers, dates of birth or credit card expiration dates and security codes, the report said. However, that information could have been gleaned in phishing attacks, as the hackers did gain access to customer email addresses.

Consumers who are working to reduce debt should diligently check their monthly credit card statements to find any potential signs of criminals using their information to make purchases in order to avoid credit card debt problems.

Consumers who fall so far behind on their credit card payments that the debt is charged off may be hit with a lawsuit from their former lender, but one of the nation's top financial institutions has recently been dropping such cases in a number of states across the country.

JPMorgan Chase – the nation's second-largest bank which controls more than $100 billion in credit card debt – has quietly been dropping lawsuits over defaulted accounts in five states, and more than 1,000 have been voluntarily dismissed since April, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Suits in California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and New York have been dropped. But at least in Illinois, they were dropped in such a way that they can also be re-filed.

The move is seen as somewhat odd, however, because they are often very successful, the report said. Industry estimates show that, in all lawsuits over defaulted credit card debt collections, the judgments go in favor of the lender about 94 percent of the time. Some judges said the nationwide average amount sought by the companies in debt collections cases is about $1,000.

However, one Florida-based lender who occasionally handles debt collection cases for JPMorgan said that the company's lawyers told him the suits were dropped due to what they called "irregularities" in the paperwork associated with verifying how valid the pursued debt is, the report said. This is a common problem in lawsuits of this type, and some judges told the newspaper that the documentation is often sloppy or even fraudulent, not that JPMorgan has been accused of this in the dropped cases.

"It's a significant problem … that's widespread and yet given virtually no attention," Philip Straniere, a state court judge who presides in Richmond County, New York, told the newspaper.

In the past year, Straniere has dismissed more than 150 credit card collections lawsuits brought by JPMorgan because submitted paperwork appeared to be marred by the practice known as "robo-signing," the report said. In this controversial process, a small number of people signed off on a significant number of documents without thoroughly reviewing them.

However, many of the nation's top credit card lenders have observed far fewer instances of either delinquent or defaulted credit card accounts in the past year, as borrowers have typically gotten a better handle on taking steps to get out of debt.

One of the nation's largest credit card lenders recently revealed that it saw its second-quarter profits more than triple as consumers used their accounts more often and made more successful efforts to reduce debt.

Purchase volume and value rose appreciably, and charged off accounts fell considerably, and those factors combined to spell $593 million in second-quarter profits for Discover Financial Services. That was up from the $185 million profit the institution enjoyed in the same period last year.

The value of the purchases the company processed climbed 18 percent to $71.62 billion in the three-month period ending May 31, the report said. Meanwhile, the number of those transactions surged 25 percent.

In addition, charge offs slipped to just 5.01 percent of all balances, and cost the company $577 million, the report said. That was down from the 8.56 percent and $1 billion observed in the second fiscal quarter last year as consumers worked to get out of debt.

Discover is like all of the other top lenders in the U.S., in that falling credit card defaults have saved it hundreds of millions of dollars in recent quarters, leading to far larger profits.

Consumers who use debit cards instead of credit in an attempt to reduce debt may soon be helping out the restaurants they visit, thanks to a new rule from the Federal Reserve Board that will be enacted later this summer.

Restaurants are expected to benefit from the new, lower swipe fee rules more than most other businesses because of the large amount of debit transactions they process, according to a report from the Associated Press. In a new note from KeyBanc Capital Markets, it was revealed that the average restaurant conducts about 35 percent of its business on customers' debit cards, and the lower fees will mean increased profits which, in some cases, may become significant.

Profits for restaurants will likely increase between 1 and 4.5 percent, with restaurants that have less expensive menu items likely to benefit the most, the report said. Some could even pass the lower prices they pay for processing transactions on to consumers.

The rule will cut debit card transaction fees charged by credit networks to just 12 cents per purchase, down from the current average of 44 cents.

The U.S. economy is slowly recovering from the massive recession that had a severe negative impact, but now some experts believe the amelioration would be greatly aided if consumers took on more credit card debt.

Americans have been reticent to use their credit cards to make everyday purchases since the recession hit, and have instead focused on ways to reduce debt, according to a report from USA Today. But this tight-fisted approach to their finances has only slowed the nation's continued economic recovery.

Statistics from financial data tracking firm IHS Global Insight shows that the ratio of non-mortgage debt to household disposable income is at 20.7 percent, its lowest level in 15 years, the report said. In addition, the nation's collective credit card balances have slipped more than $180 billion since August 2008, when the recession really began to take hold.

Some consumers have also sought various methods of reducing credit card debt, such as debt consolidation, as an alternative to bankruptcy. Others choose to carry credit cards, but pay off their balances in full every month.