Subprime credit cards are issued to customers with bad credit or no credit history. They are sometimes referred to as "fee harvester cards" in the credit card industry. These cards typically carry low credit limits of $250 to $500 and are designed to help cardholders launch or re-establish payment histories.

Was 2007 a bad year for you and credit card debt? CreditCards.com recommends paying attention to the fine print on credit card contracts, comparing credit card rates and protecting your identity in the coming year. Here are some easy and not-so-easy steps to take:

The proposed Regulation Z revisions cover two different kinds of disclosures designed to warn consumers who make the minimum payments on their accounts. Paying only the minimum amount each month lengthens the amount of time credit cardholders can take to pay off their debts -- and increases the amount of interest creditors earn from accountholders.

As with the account opening disclosures, there currently are few format requirements for change-in-terms disclosures. Thus consumers generally discover them in notices, amendments or pamphlets seemingly written by a legal whiz but undecipherable to average readers. That will end under the proposals. If the change in terms is one that must be provided in a table in the account-opening summary, it must be provided in a table in any notice of a change in terms. Creditors can also give notice of change-in-terms on your periodic or monthly billing statements, but again, in a table.

With their proposed changes to periodic statement disclosure rules, federal regulators seek to reduce confusion by mandating uniform terminology and by grouping similar transactions on your monthly or periodic statement.

Regulation Z requires creditors to disclose all costs and terms before a new credit card's first use. However, according to the board, "Currently, there are few format requirements for these account-opening disclosures, which are typically interspersed among other contractual terms in the creditor's account agreement."

When it comes to disclosing fees, the difference between the old and the proposed approaches is stark. Under the current Regulation Z , fees are grouped in one small box of the larger disclosure table, with one exception, one that illustrates the problem with the old fee disclosure table.

The Federal Reserve Board has proposed the most sweeping and consumer-friendly changes in nearly 30 years to Regulation Z, the section of the Truth in Lending Act that governs how consumers are notified of the terms and conditions of credit card and other revolving (open-ended) loans.

Depending on who you ask, today's credit card industry -- a multibillion dollar easy access lending machine -- operates like a deceptive, predatory mafia or is a convenient service for those in need of quick cash.

CreditCards.com reviewed a sample of the more than 2,400 public comments filed with the Federal Reserve Board regarding proposed changes to Regulation Z. Here's what credit card users, consumer advocates, banks, credit unions and credit card networks had to say about proposed Regulation Z changes intended to make credit card terms clearer and more readable.