There is no doubt anybody with a pulse could get some credit cards in the past. Really anybody or anything. I've heard unbelievable stories about credit card issuers mailing plastic to infants, people's dogs, and to dead people as well.

As long as homes raised in value, almost any people were able to take out easy home equity lines of credit as well. They purchased jet skis and gigantic television sets with this easy credit, expensive cars, motorcycles and yachts, and designer wardrobes, Rolex or Breitling watches and luxury vacations.

To make a long story short they purchased expensive toys on credit, back when money was flowing freely and rates of interest were reasonable.

Now banks are confronting record numbers of loan defaults. Because people lose their jobs or their partners lose their jobs or they face pay cuts, they aren't able to pay off their monthly credit card bills or home equity lines of credit.

The banks and easy credit were not their friends. They were a trap that led these people to believe they could spend and spend without any consequence.

When people are not able to pay their bills on times they are reported to the credit agencies, and scores decrease. Then, when people want to take out loans for things they really need - a student loan, a home loan, a car or truck - it is nearly impossible to get it.

Getting a bad credit score also makes it very difficult to refinance and get lower rates of interest on existing loans. As a matter of fact, now it has become hard for a lot of people to get easy credit. It is not really a bad thing in any case. It means that people now need to save up and purchase things they can afford, or not to buy things that they can't pay in cash.

In any case this means it's important to work on improving your credit score, but it shouldn't be your goal to improve your lines on new credit and increase the amount of money you can borrow. Instead, you should think about the trouble easy credit has caused for you and for a lot of other people in the past, and use as little credit as possible, delay any purchases that are not necessary and make it a goal to live within your means.