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The rate at which consumers fell seriously behind on paying down their credit card debt rose for the first time in nearly two years during the third quarter.

The nationwide delinquency rate for credit cards that are 90 days or more behind on payments rose to 0.71 percent in the third quarter of the year, the first quarter-over-quarter increase observed since the final three months of 2009, according to the latest report from the credit monitoring bureau TransUnion. The reason for this increase is likely because lenders have once again begun expanding offers to consumers with subprime credit ratings.

"When more high-risk customers are opening cards and fewer low-risk consumers are doing so, it is inevitable that delinquency rates will increase," said Ezra Becker, vice president of research and consulting in TransUnion's financial services business unit. "In one sense this is good news: those consumers who are most affected by the continuing tough economy are gaining better access to the credit 'breathing room' they need to make ends meet."

Continual drops in instances of both delinquency and default indicates more people are attempting to get out of debt, leading lenders to expand marketing efforts to all consumers.

Community groups worried about the effects of lending to subprime borrowers who are more likely to run into serious credit card debt are asking the federal government to look into a deal between two major credit card lenders.

A number of major community groups, led by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, are asking the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency told delay approving Capital One Financial's proposed purchase of London-based HSBC's U.S. credit card business until public hearings can be held, according to a report from Dow Jones Newswires. They say that Capital One's efforts to extend credit to subprime borrowers unfairly targets those in low-income communities to take on debt they can't afford.

The NCRC also spearheaded a successful effort to get the Federal Reserve Board to hold public hearings over Capital One's acquisition of ING's U.S. online banking business earlier this year, the report said. As a result, Capital One agreed to invest $180 billion into low-income communities over the next decade.

Capital One, like all major U.S. lenders, is once again attempting to expand lending efforts as it has seen instances of delinquency and default drop considerably over the last year.

Many consumers across the country tend to take on more credit card debt as the holidays approach because of the high cost of buying gifts for their friends and family. And because of that, lenders are more actively trying to incentivize these purchases.

The value of rewards programs being offered by credit card lenders is increasing significantly as the holidays approach, according to a report from Reuters. For example, JPMorgan Chase and Citi are now both offering credit cards that grant new customers $200 cash back after they spend their first $500. Meanwhile, a new Bank of America offer grants consumers an 11 percent rebate for purchases, and several lenders are granting consumers 5 percent cash back for purchases on a rotating list of categories.

However, lenders are also making the top-notch offers more difficult to find on their websites, and some may actually require a web search to find, the report said. For this reason, it may be helpful for consumers to educate themselves on the highest value offers before heading to the site.

Consumers tend to increase credit card spending around the holidays because gift purchasing is often difficult to squeeze into a monthly budget. However, before spending too much, consumers should also have a plan on how they will get out of debt.

Millions of consumers who travel overseas might find it difficult to take on credit card debt in a growing number of foreign countries.

Almost every credit card ever issued in the U.S. stores its information on the familiar little magnetic strip on the back, but most countries have turned to a system that uses a microchip to hold user data, meaning it's growing increasingly difficult to complete a transaction with an American card overseas, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times. However, some U.S. lenders are now extending cards to some consumers – typically affluent borrowers or frequent travelers – that store information using both a magnetic strip and embedded microchip.

However, lenders in the U.S. are hesitant to roll out a full switch to the new system given the likelihood of adoption for mobile credit card purchases made with smartphones, the report said. Implementing a new system that would likely only be in use for a few years would be costly and ineffective.

The countries where the switch has been most common are located largely in Europe, Asia and Central America. The most difficult purchases for Americans are typically those made at automated kiosks.

In the month of September, the amount consumers were allowed to borrow on their credit cards grew once again as lenders continued to issue more new accounts.

The latest National Credit Trends Report from the credit monitoring bureau Equifax showed that the number of credit cards issued in September increased for both banks and retailers, and with those rates rose the amount of credit card debt consumers are allowed to take on, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The year-over-year increases are likely the result of improving rates of delinquency and default observed by all major lenders.

New bank-issued credit cards rose to a total of 21.6 million in September, up 25.3 percent over the same month last year, and private-label store-issued cards jumped 6.9 percent to 18.2 million, the report said. Meanwhile, credit lines on those new cards rose 25.4 percent to $83.3 billion for bank-issued accounts and 4.3 percent to $31.7 billion on store cards.

Most experts believe that greater consumer awareness of the issues associated with large amounts of credit card debt led to the decreased delinquency and default, as more shied away from borrowing and made increased efforts to pay down their balances.

Consumers who have been trying to deal with their outstanding credit card debt responsibly may now be more likely to turn to mobile solutions to handle their accounts.

The number of consumers who are using their smartphones to access credit card account information grew significantly between December 2010 and June 2011, according to a report from the digital information tracking company comScore. In all, nearly 18.4 million consumers used a mobile browser to access credit card information, up 23 percent from the previous period's total of more than 14.9 million.

But the greater growth was seen in the number of consumers using smartphone applications to access these details, the report said. The number of credit card app users rose 43 percent to more than 6 million, up from nearly 4.2 million at the end of 2010.

Many experts agree that mobile phones are the future of the credit card industry, as consumers will be able to not only check their account data on these devices, but also use them to make purchases.

Many of the nation's top credit card lenders, retailers and other businesses, as well as consumers, are concerned about the rising tide of fraudulent credit card debt, and now the world's largest payment processor may have a new way to slow this crime.

Visa will soon begin issuing certain types of credit cards with a new redesign that some believe will make them more secure, according to a report from Main Street. The cards will now only present the issuing bank's logo and user's name on the front of the card, flipping the account number, expiration date and Visa logo to the back. However, Visa is reluctant to reveal why the change has been made.

"In an effort to help our financial institutions pursue options to maximize their branding opportunity on Visa cards, while maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the Visa brand, we are evaluating refinements that allow for the alternative placement of account information and security elements through limited market programs," a Visa spokesperson told the news site.

Consumers who have been trying to get out of debt may find it more difficult to do so if they don't spot fraudulent charges early.

A number of the nation's largest financial institutions have recently proposed changes to the way in which they charge consumers for using debit cards, and though consumers have sworn to find alterative payment methods, some experts don't believe the resulting change will be seismic.

Joseph Saunders, chief executive officer for Visa, recently said that despite consumer sentiment turning against financial institutions who plan debit card use fees, the number of debit transactions – and the value of those purchases – is unlikely to change, according to a report from The Associated Press. Visa, the world's largest processor of both debit and credit card transactions, believes that even if consumers do make good on their promises to switch to new financial institutions that do not charge for debit use, they will still use the debit accounts issued by those new banks.

"All of the banks recognize that their customers have an option to move to a competitor," Saunders said on a conference call with reporters, according to the news agency. "That being said, I don't believe that anything that's happening is going to substantially alter the macro debit volume in the United States. I don't think debit use is going to go away."

In addition, even those consumers who are considered underbanked and may not be able to open new checking accounts to which they can link debit cards will likely continuing using debit, just in another form, the report said. Saunders said that Visa has seen an appreciable jump in the number of transactions being completed with prepaid cards, which are expected to continue growing in popularity, particularly if new debit fees drive out more consumers.

Further, even if consumers don't turn to prepaid cards, they will likely simply begin using credit cards to complete a greater number of transactions than they currently do, the report said.

Visa saw both debit and credit card use expand in the fourth fiscal quarter of the year, though the latter did so more than the former, the report said.

Many Americans have likely looked to debit card use in recent months as an alternative payment method while they attempted to reduce debt. This type of card grants them the same payment flexibility they have likely come to expect from credit card use, but does not result in additional debt.

A new poll has found that increases in the fees financial institutions charge consumers for using their debit cards may lead to more taking on credit card debt to make their day-to-day purchases.

A recent poll by the Research Intelligence Group has found that the vast majority of Americans find the proposed increase in fees for using debit cards to be distasteful, according to a report from Bloomberg News. About 43 percent of those polled said they would seek alternative payment methods including credit cards and cash, while roughly 30 percent assert that they would switch banks. Just 13 percent of those polled said they would pay the fees if they were "reasonable."

"There's a lot of consumer discontent within financial services and I think there’s a lot of frustration," Rob Kaplan-Sherman, president of the services division of the Research Intelligence Group, told the news agency. "People express that they're going to change their behavior, and that includes changing how and where they bank."

Many consumers who have been struggling to reduce debt may have fewer options when it comes to avoiding these fees, as credit card use may be out of the question for some.

Consumers' online browsing habits have long been used to create targeted advertisements specifically for them.

But now the world's two largest credit and debit card payment processing companies are working to do the same with the information gathered any time a consumer takes oncredit card debt for purchases at brick-and-mortar stores, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Visa and MasterCard are working, separately, to develop technology that would allow them to instantly transfer consumers' real-world purchasing data to advertisers, which would then use that information to push specific types of ads to the cardholders within a short period of time.

For example, the ideal scenario for this type of system would be to send weight loss ads to consumers within minutes of their using their debit or credit card to purchase fast food, the report said. However, no such system exists at this juncture, and targeted online advertising is currently only tied to web browsing habits, not purchases at brick-and-mortar stores.

"There is a lot of data out there, but there is not a lot of data based on actual purchase transactions," Susan Grossman, group head of media solutions at MasterCard Advisors, recently told the newspaper. "We are taking it a level deeper…it is a much more precise targeting mechanism."

Currently, MasterCard doesn't collect information such as consumers' names or addresses when they process a purchase, which would make it difficult to overhaul their entire system, the report said. However, it has already begun to do so in an effort to better create consumer profiles. Meanwhile, Visa's proposed system would use aggregate cardholder buying histories to create targeted ads while still keeping the individual consumer's information anonymous. At most, ads would only be able to be targeted by area, rather than tailored to an individual. However, it would also use data on consumers beyond their credit card purchases – such as information posted on social networks, search engines and the like – to beef up these profiles.

Privacy advocates have been trying to reduce the amount of information companies that specialize in targeted advertisements can use to create consumer profiles, as well as limit the access these companies have to user browsing habits. One such initiative is the creation of an online "do not track" service that allows consumers to opt out of these services.