Anxiety Over Credit Scores Holds Back the U.S. Economy

There's a lot of talk right now about how to get the U.S. economy back on track.

One big problem is that American consumers have slammed their wallets shut, opting to save more and charge less. At the same time, many credit card companies have cut off access to credit for millions of people.

All this presents a problem for a country like the U.S., where consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of the economy.

Which leads me to a theory about why some consumers aren't spending as much as they might otherwise be willing to do.

My theory is that as millions of consumers navigate the ongoing credit crunch, and increasingly become aware of the importance of maintaining great credit, many people are paying a lot more attention to financial mistakes that may or may not hurt their credit scores, and this is influencing their spending choices. Specifically, concerns about managing credit wisely often causes people to not make certain purchases.