According to a data mining company, the old adage of being judged by the friends you keep translates easily into the digital friends you keep.

Rapleaf, a social media monitoring company, claims that by analyzing public information such as the friends you have on Twitter it can assess how creditworthy you are and how likely you are to respond to advertising.

Rapleaf monitors public digital conversations and stores away your Twitter and Facebook status updates, restaurant reviews, Amazon book reviews and plenty of other online public information in its database of 378 million profiles to profile you.

This isn't quite the falling of the Berlin Wall, but in the credit scoring world, it's close. Apparently, for the first time ever, FICO, the company that has its famed credit scoring model, has released details on how a financial goof-up actually affects your credit score.

First, before I go on, credit for making credit scores a little less mysterious goes to Liz Pulliam Weston, a prolific and well respected columnist with MSN Money. She asked FICO for details on how they determine how late fees, bankruptcies, foreclosures and so on affect one's credit score, and they decided to actually be upfront about it. Or at least more upfront than they used to be.

Every time you make a financial mistake, these are known as "damage points." And the higher credit score, the more points these mistakes will cost you, which is interesting. In other words, the slide descending into bad credit can be faster and more pronounced than someone already on their way down.

With more than $40,000 in credit card debt and more than 20 credit cards to her name, Diana Ryan didn't think she had a problem -- even though her husband had no idea just how many pieces of plastic she had tucked in her wallet. "It sounds cliche," Ryan says, "but I thought I could stop at any time."

But the lure of special offers and other card deals was much stronger than Ryan's willpower. "I couldn't say no when a cashier asked if I wanted to open a new card to get an instant in-store savings or receive a new promotion," she says.

Ryan represents a growing number of Americans who've passed the point of merely overspending and have entered into the realm of addiction. And, in doing so, they're maxing out a record number of credit cards.

Just when you thought new legislation meant plastic was safe. Credit card companies are finding loopholes in the new Credit Card Act of May 2009. Their motive: Making up for lost revenue and side-steeping the reform.

The first part of the law rolled into effect in August, and required banks to give customers more notice before making major changes, like rate hikes, to their accounts. In February 2010, phase two comes into play with issuers being imposed limits on raising rates on existing card balances. Finally, the third phase will take effect in August 2010, when some penalty fees are capped.

Stopped at my local Shell station recently to fill up my van. I have used my Shell MasterCard for almost six years due to the discount that it offers for Shell purchases.

Much to my surprise, the pump refused to authorize my card and said, "See Attendant."

Well, I HATE going into the stations, that is part of the reason I like to pay at the pump. I talked with the attendant who informed me that my card was declined.

What? I have never missed a payment, never been late, and always paid my balance in full. I quickly got on the phone to the credit card company who informed me that a "recent full review of my credit resulted in the cancellation of my card." When I tried to press them as to what was the issue, they suggested I review my credit information. I informed them that it would have been nice to know I was canceled BEFORE I went to the gas station to get the gas. She said, "A letter will be coming shortly."

Since both of my college kids are on my gas card, I quickly got calls from them wondering if we were going into bankruptcy. I dodged their questions while I looked up my credit information on the internet. Yes, there was a very old bill that I had refused to pay because I didn't owe it from 2006, but also a recent entry from Boston Store. Now, I have no idea why Boston Store reported me to the credit agencies. I don't owe them money, paid them on time, and have never missed a payment.

In the morass of glum housing news, there is one bright spot: Tantalizing low mortgage rates are continuing to entice more homeowners to refinance. The number of applications to refinance has tripled in the past year, says the Mortgage Bankers Assn.

Refinance applications soared 18% in the week ending Oct. 2 compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Assn. Rates on 30-year fixed rate conforming home loans dropped to 4.89% -- their lowest level in four months. (They hit a record low of 4.78% in the spring.) Some refinance rates are even better for borrowers with stronger credit, say experts.

In this week's "Your Job Will Come" podcast, Aaron Crowe is joined by personal finance expert Carrie Coghill Kuntz to discuss how to protect your credit score while unemployed.

With the national unemployment rate up to 9.8% in September and 263,000 jobs lost last month, there are plenty of people out there who should do all they can to keep their credit in good standing while jobless.

The credit score and credit report blog SpendOnLife.com took an in-depth look at the credit scores of the five richest and five poorest neighborhoods by income to find out what separates the swank from the slum. In the same feature it also ranked each state by average credit score, so you can see how you stack up to your neighbors.

One of the first things you'll notice about the richest and poorest neighborhoods is that you have to actually look at the data twice to see where the differences are. While the number of credit accounts and mortgage balances vary greatly, the values of other items such as credit utilization all hover pretty closely at the national average.

So you've heard of credit scores, but do you really understand how they're calculated? In this week's episode of Show & Tell with The 2 Mortgage Guys we'll break down the credit report guidelines and give you a few tips on how to keep your score from limiting your financial options!

Ryan Minick and Steve DeLon are The 2 Mortgage Guys. Subscribe to their newsletter or visit them at www.The2MortgageGuys.com.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's first family of personal finance, answer your questions every Friday.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

Money is the #1 topic of arguments among married couples. Unfortunately, that pattern holds true when a marriage ends in divorce. If you aren't careful, divorce-related money problems can haunt you for years. Today, Ken and Daria Dolan of Dolans.com help a divorcee' deal with credit problems being caused by her ex-spouse's debt hurting her credit. Watch now.

Dear Ken and Daria,

How can I get my ex's debt off of my credit report?

--Karen

To learn how to fix errors on your credit report, visit the Dolans.com Credit Center.

The credit card bill that President Obama signed earlier this year will result in sweeping changes in the way that college students interact with credit card companies. Among these changes:

• Starting in 2010, the companies will be barred from offering free Frisbees, pizza etc. to college students in exchange for filling out applications -- but only when the offer is made on or near a college campus or at a college event.
• Anyone under the age of 21 will need either proof of income or a parent or guardian to co-sign

What do teens know about money? It's green, they never have enough of it and for some it seems to magically appear from the bank of Mom and Dad. Perhaps a better question is what don't teens know about money, or for that matter finances in general?

Thanks to the fact that most teens rely on their uninformed peers to answer their pressing financial questions, there is plenty of misinformation passed around which makes it even harder for teens to get the straight facts about money and other personal finance topics like credit scores and banking.

To address this problem the Consumer Federation of America and FoolProofMe.com have gathered the Top 10 money myths held by teens.



Top 10 Money Myths Held by Teens:

1. I don't have to worry about credit at my age.
2. Bad credit can't keep me from getting a job.
3. All loan companies have the same rates.
4. All credit cards are alike.
5. The job of financial advertising is to tell the truth.
6. It's OK to bounce a few checks.
7. It's OK to make minimum payments on a credit card.
8. Paying late occasionally can't hurt my credit.
9. Fine print isn't important.
10. Young people don't have credit scores.

Are you thinking about buying a home in the near future? Regardless of your credit, the first thing you should do is get your financing in order with a mortgage pre-approval. Everything from credit score requirements to PMI has changed in the last 12 months, so you may be facing a surprise or two.

Getting a pre-approval will educate you on your current options and earn you some credibility when approaching a real estate agent. Ryan Minick and Steve DeLon are The 2 Mortgage Guys. Subscribe to their newsletter or visit them at www.The2MortgageGuys.com.

Since the economic crisis killed off all of that easy-to-acquire credit that flourished like so much financial kudzu a few years ago, Americans are more concerned than ever about their credit scores. Although scores can go as high as 850, very few people ever attain that "perfect" credit. You're not alone if you're wondering: What is a good credit score, anyway?

Well, for starters, it's a lot higher than it used to be. Earlier this decade, you could easily get credit with a score of 650 or so, and 720 was top-of-the-line. Today, the "new" 650 is around a 720. For big loans such as a mortgage or car loan, lenders may want to see a score of 750 - a full 100 points higher than the norm that characterized the borrowing spree of the boom years.

Now that having a higher credit score is necessary if you want to borrow money at less-than-onerous terms, Walletpop talked to a few credit experts to get their top tips on how to get - or keep - a gold star-worthy score. Here's the inside scoop from Evan Henricks, author of the book Credit Scores & Credit Reports: How the System Really Works, What You Can Do; Gail Hillebrand, financial services campaign manager at Consumers Union, and Craig Watts, public affairs director of FICO.

It's not a service for everyone, but I can see where some people would get a lot out of a bill paying service.

While working on a magazine article I recently learned about FreyerMartin, a bill paying service that pays and manages consumers' bills. My initial thought was, "This could make an interesting story for WalletPop."

So that's what I'm doing. Just putting the information out there. If it's helpful, great.

FreyerMartin was created in 2003 by Carla Morelli, shortly after she woke up at 2 a.m., realizing she had forgotten to make her car payment. She knew she should have known better. She was the president of an IT company, not exactly a slacker. But she kept forgetting to pay critical bills, and suddenly an idea for a business was born.