Remember the good ol' days when credit limits meant something, lenders reviewed credit applications, and the livin' was easy? I hate to break it to you, but those days are gone. Now banks and credit card companies are thrilled when customers slip over their credit limits (read: big, fat, juicy fees), and lenders toss credit applications aside, relying solely on each applicant's credit score — that three-digit number that controls our lives.

Until recent years, consumers were not ...

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