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These days credit counseling agencies are popping up everywhere offering relief to those who are deeply in debt – or are they?

The answer is, unfortunately – it depends.

There is a myth that visiting a credit counseling agency is automatically terrible for your credit and will send your credit score plummeting. According to FICO, the leading credit score company, they do NOT in any way factor in visits to a credit counseling agency when people figuring out credit scores.

Things they do take into account: late payments, missed payments, judgements, liens, and a high credit balance which is charged to the limit.

However, the fact that a consumer has visited a credit counseling agency will go on their credit reports, and some lenders might potentially view this as a negative.

Consider this, though – a person who is seeking credit counseling ALREADY has bad credit. If the person uses the credit counseling wisely, pays off their debts and starts making all of their payments on time – this will boost their credit score significantly and the minor matter of having sought credit counseling will not be viewed with disfavor.

Remember, though, to only seek non-profit credit counseling agencies; there are numerous scam agencies springing up these days. A good way to find a legitimate agency is to seek out agencies that are accredited by the National Foundation For Credit Counseling; search for it online and if you need a credit counseling agency, use one recommended by them.

New regulations on the credit card industry come with some relief for customers, but they do not solve all problems, by a long shot.

Under the new laws, they will not be able to raise interest rates on existing balances except under certain conditions; they will have to give 45 days advance notice before making signficant changes to account terms; and they will not be able to raise interest rates on customers accounts based on a customer’s late payment to other, non-related accounts.

So why won’t the new laws offer universal relief to credit card owners? Partly  because the credit card issuers are businesses and want to make the most money they can, and now that some of their predatory practices have been reined in, they will find new ways to make as high a profit as possible.

And part of this is because new laws don’t change consumer behavior. It will still cost people if they pay late or if they run up too high a balance.

Issuers are allowed to charge annual fees for the use of credit cards. Right now, many issuers do not do that. They are likely to start doing that.

They also are likely to offer less reward cards, and may require that credit card bills be paid immediately instead of allowing the previous 25 to 30 day grace period.

And they can still charge late fees and raise interest rates if customers are late paying their credit card bill.

All in all though, if consumers act responsibly and read the fine print they will be fine. Don’t charge more than 20 to 30 percent of your credit limit, and send your bills in on time, and you can avoid fees and rate hikes.

New laws will make it tougher for credit card companies to get college students hooked on easy credit, but if you are a parent, you can work with your child to make sure that they’re never even tempted.

You can do this by:

Setting a household budget and discussing it with your children so they have a realistic view of monthly expenses.

Having them do chores to earn a weekly allowance.

Requiring them to donate a small portion of that weekly allowance to charity and also to set a goal of some type – vacation fund? new ipod? – and set aside money for that. This will teach them how to save for things that they really want.

Don’t indulge them every time they want the latest toy. Make them earn it with chores, allowances, babysitting or lawn-mowing jobs, depending on their ages.

Don’t get into credit card debt yourself, and don’t indulge YOURSELF with new toys all of the time if you can’t afford it. Lead by example.

Have them join you in a volunteer work at a homeless shelter from an early age to give them an appreciation of all that you have and show them how much you really have in comparison to those less fortunate.