The credit crunch which started with subprime has spread. For those with less than perfect credit it is now harder to get auto loans, credit cards, and personal loans. I think some of the bond ratings companies finally woke up and realized that standards need to increase or bond ratings need to decrease. Here is how subprime issues could effect you:

Some lenders, such as USAA, are nudging up credit-score requirements across their auto loans, credit cards and personal loans. Bank of America Corp. and Capital One Financial Corp. recently raised fees and interest rates for some of their credit-card customers. And this month, Citigroup Inc.’s CitiFinancial Auto started charging higher auto-loan rates for borrowers with less-than-perfect credit. Of course this last one is CitiFinancial, which always charged high rates and might warrant considerable watching.