Remember partying like it was 1999? Yeah, that was ten years ago. Since then you may have been able to hide your collection of Limp Bizkit CDs, stop wearing jean shorts and change your “Rachel” hairstyle (frosted tips for guys), but unfortunately you can’t remove that barbed wire tattoo from around your bicep. Show of hands —who else thought this decade would be dominated by Sisqo and his Thong Song (parts 1-5)? Ok, maybe I’m the only one.

The team at Creditnet.com would like to wish each of you a joyous holiday season and a prosperous, debt-free New Year!

[caption id="attachment_1107" align="alignleft" width="207" caption=" "]Photo by dbking[/caption]

It's been ten months since I first wrote about Experian ending it's partnership with Fair Isaac. Since then, consumers have been unable to purchase their FICO scores based on Experian's data, while lenders' access to the scores has remain unchanged.

The fact that individuals can only purchase two of their FICO credit scores while lenders can still access all three has not only outraged consumers across the country, but also many consumer advocacy groups and representatives in Congress. If any credit bureau wants to sell their credit scores to lenders, consumers should have the ability to purchase those same scores too. It's only fair, right?  There needs to be a level playing field between consumers and creditors.

 Dear Creditnet: I haven't used my credit card in a long time, and I think they may have closed it on me. The expiration date on my card passed a few months ago, and they didn't send me a new one. It had a pretty large credit line. Was my credit score dinged? Answer: You never received a replacement credit card in the mail, but that doesn't necessarily mean your account was closed. The bank may have made an error and failed to send a new card, or perhaps the card was lost in the mail? You need to do some legwork first to determine the true status of your account.

[caption id="attachment_1056" align="alignleft" width="183" caption=" "]Photo by Irargerich[/caption] Liz Pulliam Weston, the popular personal-finance columnist, recently released an article on MSN Money entitled "5 ways to kill your credit scores". I actually follow most of Ms. Weston's RSS feeds, but for some reason I skipped over this one during my daily dive through credit-related news. I'm not sure why I skipped it. It must have been the name—it didn't really spark my interest. For whatever reason, I just assumed it was another one of those articles preaching the same old advice about credit scores. You know how they go, right? Pay your bills on time, keep your credit utilization ratio low, and avoid bankruptcy, or else you can kiss your good credit score goodbye.