The US elections are over, with the victory for Barack Obama largely credited to public concerns about the economy. The US recession is quite real. In fact, the Federal Reserve has issued a report regarding the tightening of lending standards and practices.

Currently, as many as 85% of the banks in the US self report as having now tougher lending practices and standards for medium to large business loans, as compared to 60 percent as recently as July 2008. With regard to small business loans, these same banks report a percentage of 75% for tightened lending practices.

Not just loans are being affected by the credit market crunch. In fast, 60% of banks are reporting that they are cutting back on the number of credit card accounts granted as well as tightening the credit score requirements for approval. Even existing customers are facing tougher standards for using their credit (60% of banks).

In this type of market, you need to be aware that the lowering of credit limits for you credit card can negatively affect your credit score. Since a factor of the score is the proportion of your average balance as compared to your overall available limit, a lower credit limit will result in an higher ratio and thus lower credit score. Being aware of this fact leads to some good practices in this type of market: 1) check and know the current credit limits on your credit card accounts so that you know how much you can spend and do not go over; 2) keep track of your ratio of credit spent versus the limit for each card and for your cards total.

A good tip about protecting your credit score during this time is to pay as much of your monthly balance as you can (if you can’t pay it all). If your total utilization ratio is more than 30%, your credit score could be negatively affected. You’ll also want to keep track of what APR changes you have on your credit cards.

A good overall practice is to keep all your information with all your credit accounts updated so that you do no miss any retailer and lender notifications. Whether it’s changes to your rates and terms, changes to your limits, and offers for new accounts with attractive rates or terms for balance transfers; you won’t want to miss any of that information since it all could impact your credit score in one way or another.