Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Consumers decreased their credit card debt by 11 percent last year, with the average debt load declining in every state.

That information came from a report released Tuesday by credit tracking and financial education website CreditKarma.com. It analyzed data from more than 300,000 of its users.

“The new year typically inspires consumers to get in control of their finances, especially after the bout of holiday spending that occurred in December. Starting in January, you’ll see consumers start focusing on decreasing debt,” said Ken Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com.

CreditKarma.com found that the average credit card balance was $6,576 in 2011, down from $7,404 the previous year.

However, that decline came in a climate of weak consumer confidence, which kept spending down as banks continued to tighten lending while slashing credit limits for many existing customers.

While credit card debt was down, so were credit scores.

Nationally, credit scores fell eight points to 660 in 2011 from the previous year.

States with the highest average credit scores are:

• California, Massachusetts and New Jersey — 679
• Washington — 675
• New York — 674

States with the lowest average credit scores are:

• Mississippi — 622
• Louisiana — 635
• Arkansas — 635
• South Carolina — 635
• West Virginia — 637

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Charlotte, NC, United States (AHN) – Credit unions are benefiting from a hike on debit card fees imposed by Bank of America (BofA )on Sept. 29. They are taking advantage of the growing anti-bank sentiment across the country as evidenced by the Occupy Wall Street movements.

Another proof is the big jump in applications experienced by some credit unions for membership. In September, the National Association of Federal Credit Unions logged a 350 percent increase in Web traffic to its online credit union locator.

Besides capitalizing on the anti-bank sentiments, credit unions are highlighting their advantages such as no checking and debit card fee, no minimum balance requirements and quarterly paid dividends.

The advantage credit unions and community banks with less than $10 billion in assets have compared to banks are that these establishments are exempt from a new government rule that cut interchange of swipe fees which led banks to impose new fees.

Besides BofA, Suntrust also tacked in fees on debit cards, while Citibank phased out its free checking accounts.

To give the shift from banks to credit unions a bigger push, a Facebook group marked Nov. 5 as Bank Transfer Day when depositors are encouraged to close their bank accounts and transfer their savings to credit unions to avoid escalating bank fees.

This early, BofA is rethinking its plan to charge $5 a month for the use of their debit cards, according to reports. Although bank officials said there is no firm conclusion yet, a new plan being hatched would exempt customers who hold BofA credit cards, directly deposit their pay into the bank or hold a minimum balance from the $5 fee.

Previously, BofA said the fee would only be waived if the debit card holder has a minimum balance of $20,000.

The cardholder backlash is also causing other banks to reconsider plans to impose a fee. Wells Fargo canceled on Friday a test that would charge debit cardholders from Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon $3 a month. JPMorgan also decided against imposing a $3 stand-alone debit card use fee per month.

U.S. banks are estimated to lose $6 billion from the mandated reduction in swipe fees.

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The number of hacked Citi credit card accounts rose to 360,083 from the 210,000 announced earlier, according to Citigroup.

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This is Money has scoured the market to find the best offers for consumers wishing to transfer balances between credit cards

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A just-released report shows that airlines’ revenues from baggage fees, co-branded credit cards and other sources not specifically tied to transportation grew to $21.46 billion last year.

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Two women are accused of targeting church parking lots, scouring cars for credit cards and racking up thousands in charges.

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ST. LOUIS – A Florissant man who broke into vehicles, stole debit and credit cards and used them to charge more than $100,000 was sentenced in federal court to four and one-half years in federal priso

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At times I feel like I’ve taken a vow of sorts. And this vow guides me, irritates me and gives me amazing freedom, often all at the same time. This vow, this guiding principle if you will, allows me to live my life without a lot of financial guilt or confusion. It gives me the peace of mind to know I am slowly but surely building my future while living a balanced life in the present moment.

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JAKARTA (IFT) – Bank Indonesia will not allow Citibank Indonesia to issue new credit cards for two years after the investigation on the alleged battery-to-death case involving one of its credit card customers.

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Ameican consumers used their credit cards more in March, marking only the second increase in the more than two years since the height of the financial crisis.

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