Up until now, if you had a high credit score, you were given pretty much whatever credit card you wanted. With credit card defaults on the risre, banks are discovering that having a good credit score might not reveal all of the risk factors a potential borrower has. For that reason, banks are starting to consider other credit factors to identify other potential problem areas.

For example, living in an area with high unemployment or working in an industry where job security is volatile can prompt an issuer to reduce your credit limit or introduce an annual fee to your account, even if your credit and payment histories are spotless, smartmoney.com cites David Robertson, owner of the Nilson Report, which tracks credit card industry trends. “Six issuers control 80% of the market,” he says. “They use very sophisticated programs and are able to slice and dice their portfolio in many ways.”

Another change to credit card issuing decisions will be income requirements. On Jan 12, the Federal Reserve issued its final rules related to last year’s Credit Card Act, which, among other things, will require credit-card companies to consider an applicant’s income or assets and current debts before approving credit. To provide flexibility, however, the Fed said that issuers can use “a reasonable estimate” of income or assets based on “statistically sound models.”

Statistically sound models? Sounds like something right up the credit bureaus ally. Sure enough, as a result of this new mandate, all three bureaus have spent time and money on developing income estimation software. The credit bureaus will use information in a consumers credit report such as the size and age of their mortgages or the size of their credit limits.

I’ve filled out many a credit card application asking me to give my income, but I’ve never had to send in any documentation. While proving income still won’t be required in any future credit cards applications I submit, anything I claim as my income will be checked against the credit bureaus’ income estimator. I don’t know about you, but I’m kinda creeped out by how much information the credit bureaus potentially have about me. They’re not the most consumer-friendly bunch.

You can be critical about the new rules, as it makes consumer credit even tougher to get. On the other hand, easy credit was definitely one of the causes of the US economic crisis, so maybe some credit granting tightening is a good thing. What’s your opinion? Tell us about it by leaving a comment!

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