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Making up for lost revenue under a new federal law that restricts interest rate charges, many credit card issuers have been slapping new fees on cardholders.

Among the highest I’ve seen are a $99 annual fee just for having the card and a $60 fee unless cardholders charge at least $2,400 in a year.

So, what to do? Are we better off canceling a card to avoid unwanted fees or will doing so cost us more in the long run?

"We are advised not to close credit card accounts we no longer use because it will hurt our credit score," wrote a reader in an e-mail representative of dozens I’ve received. "I don’t want to pay any fees. How does closing an account really affect my score?"

For the answer, I turned to Craig Watts, public affairs director for FICO, the company that developed the widely used FICO score (The name comes from Fair Isaac Corp\oration, named after founders Bill Fair and Earl Isaac).

First, a refresher. Lenders use our credit score — a number generally ranging from 300 to 850 — to help them determine how likely we are to pay back a loan on time. The higher our score, the more likely we’ll be approved for a credit card or loan at attractive rates.

In addition, insurance companies, wireless providers, landlords and employers are using credit scores — presumably, a measure of how responsible we are — to help them decide whether to do business with us and on what terms.

That’s why having a good credit score is important. The good news is that if we use only a fraction of our credit limit, closing a credit card account won’t have much of an impact.

The FICO score formula weighs a number of factors on our credit bureau report. The most important is whether we pay on time.

You can go to www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/WhatsInYourScore.aspx for a complete list.

If we have one or more credit cards, the formula considers things such as how long we’ve had each account open, whether we pay on time and the "utilization rate," which is the account balance divided by the credit limit. For example, if we charge $2,000 and our credit limit is $10,000, our utilization rate is 20 percent.

The lower the utilization rate, the better. The formula also considers the utilization rate for all our cards combined. This is the part of the formula most likely to be affected if we close a credit card account.

For example, I have three credit cards, each with a $10,000 credit limit.

I typically charge $2,000 a month on one card and little or nothing on the others. My overall utilization rate is 6.67 percent ($2,000 is 6.67 percent of $30,000). For an explanation of utilization rate, go to www.myfico.com/crediteducation/questions/Credit-Cards-And-Score. aspx.

If you have high balances on one or more credit cards and you close one or more unused accounts, this can increase your overall credit utilization rate and damage your FICO score, Watts said. "To avoid that, you want to close credit accounts when your overall credit utilization rate is very low," he said.

For example, if I were to close one of my rarely used cards, my utilization rate would rise from 6.67 percent to 10 percent ($2,000 in charges and an overall $20,000 credit limit). That rate would still be quite low. Although the FICO site does not recommend a specific utilization rate, many consumer advocates recommend keeping it to less than 50 percent, or even 33 percent.

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Greece requested its first round of international funding on Tuesday. Now comes the really hard part: The Greeks will have to tighten their belts to bring the nation’s finances in line.

The initial loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund should allow Greece — at least for now — to stave off financial collapse.

But the debt agreement also sets into motion a raft of austerity measures to bring the national finances into compliance.

The measures are designed to rein in a country that has been living beyond its means.

"These are very, very serious and very, very rapid cuts," said Mitchell Orenstein, professor of European studies at Johns Hopkins University.

The austerity measures fall heavily on public workers, who will receive pay cuts and have to postpone retirement until later in life, and pensioners, who will have their pensions reduced.

"The current pension system is unsustainable and will become insolvent if responsible measures are not taken to place it on a sound footing," read an IMF document detailing the austerity measures.

Here are some of the details agreed upon by the Greek government, which hopes to reduce its annual deficit to 8.1% of its gross domestic product this year, compared to 13.6% in 2009:

Salaries: Wages will be cut to save the government € 1.1 billion in 2010. A spokeswoman for the Greek Finance Ministry declined to provide a flat percentage, because the cuts will vary depending on a worker’s salary. Two rounds of wage cuts have already occurred this year.

Retirement: Pensions will also be cut, except for those in the lowest income bracket. The retirement age will be set at 65. This is quite a contrast from the current system, which allows some workers to retire at 61. The government will toughen eligibility for disability, and for any other type of early retirement.

Sales taxes: The nation’s value-added tax will be increased by a tenth, meaning that a 10% tax will get notched up to 11%, and a 21% tax will be increased to 23%, to use examples provided by the IMF. This is expected to save the government € 800 million in 2010.

Excise taxes: Special taxes will be imposed on fuel and cigarettes, each of which will provide estimated revenue of € 200 million this year.

A tax will also be imposed on alcohol (including the traditional Greek liquor ouzo), providing estimated revenue of € 50 million in 2010. And the government will slap an excise tax on luxury items, such as yachts and private jets.

This luxury tax targets the wealthy, said Orenstein. But that doesn’t help the fact that the working and middle classes will bear the brunt of the hardship, he said.

The looming era of austerity fanned the flames of last week’s protests in Athens. Lower income workers see themselves as paying the price for tax-dodging fat cats, whom they blame for causing the problem.

"The Greek context is one in which there’s been a lot of tax evasion," said Orenstein. "It seems to me that people who can’t hide their income — public workers, teachers — are the ones who are going to pay the price. That’s the downside of the austerity program."

CNNMoney.com staff reporter Blake Ellis contributed to this article. 

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Southwest Airlines is boosting the frequency of nine of its routes from Denver International Airport for the summer season as of Sunday.

The Dallas-based airline (NYSE: LUV) announced these DIA schedule additions:

• Denver-Baltimore, from three flights a day to four.

• Denver-New Orleans, from one flight to two.

• Denver-Oakland, Calif., from three flights to four.

• Denver-Portland, Ore., from two flights to three.

• Denver-Sacramento, Calif., from two flights to three.

• Denver-Seattle, from two flights to three.

• Denver-Spokane, Wash., from one flight to two.

• Denver-Tampa Bay, Fla., from one flight to two.

• Denver to Tulsa, Okla pay day loan lenders., from two flights to three.

After Sunday's schedule additions, Southwest said it will operate 129 daily flights out of DIA, and expects to have 144 daily nonstops to and from the Denver airport by August.

Southwest carried 16 percent of DIA passengers in the first two months of 2010, according to airport statistics, making it the airport's No. 3 carrier, after United Airlines and Frontier Airlines, by passenger volume. Its share of total passengers has grown rapidly since the airline arrived at DIA in 2006.

Click here to download a full list of Southwest's system-wide schedule changes.

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GMAC Financial Services, the auto and mortgage lender that took three government bailouts to the tune of $16.3 billion last year, posted its first quarterly profit on Monday since receiving Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, funds.

And that’s not all: Now the company, which was once wholly owned by General Motors, wants to change its brand, distancing itself further from the struggling automaker — at least in name. On May 10, GMAC will rebrand itself Ally Financial Inc. to reflect one of its most successful businesses, Ally Bank.

The online bank reported $231 million in income in the latest quarter. After factoring in losses from other divisions of the company, GMAC as a whole, reported first quarter earnings of $162 million, compared with a loss of $675 million in the year-ago quarter.

"We achieved profitability, our premier auto finance franchise continued to expand, the capital markets reopened to GMAC debt, we have reduced expenses, and we took several additional steps to contain and reduce risk in the mortgage business," GMAC Chief Executive Officer Michael Carpenter said in a press release.

GMAC, which finances GM and Chrysler dealers as well as car buyers and home loans, currently has a contract with General Motors to use the "GMAC" trademark until 2016.

But GMAC’s board of directors decided to scrap the name sooner.

It’s a smart move, said branding expert Jack Trout, because it solves two problems. First, it distances the company from its negative association with government bailout money, and second, it expands the name to reflect the company’s retail banking operations outside the scope of auto loans.

"GMAC was always confusing. It was a good name if you’re leasing GM cars, but once you get beyond the automobile world, it’s not good," Trout said. "If you can take advantage of what the word ‘ally’ means, you can use that word to certainly help drive a new idea in."

GMAC shares are not publicly traded, and the government holds a majority stake in it since the company took bailout money.

As of Monday, GMAC has not repaid its TARP funds, a Treasury Department spokeswoman said.

"The company is working toward the timely repayment of the U.S. Treasury’s investments," GMAC spokesman James Olecki said in an e-mail. 

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Rocky Brands Inc. will stop distributing footwear bearing the Dickies label at the end of the year, the work going to an affiliate of the brand’s owner, the company said late Thursday.

Nelsonville-based Rocky Brands (NASDAQ:RCKY) became the exclusive licensee of Dickies boots after its $100 million acquisition of EJ Footwear Group LLC in 2004. The Franklin, Tenn.-based company was composed of three companies that produced footwear under the Georgia Boot, Durango, Lehigh, John Deere an Dickies brands.

Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co., based in Fort Worth, Texas, will have its Kodiak Group Holdings Co. develop and market the Dickies footwear business after the licensing accord with Rocky Brands expires Dec. 31.

Rocky CEO Mike Brooks said in a release that “we anticipated it would be difficult for us to retain the Dickies footwear license beyond 2010 and we have been taking steps to replace that business beginning next year. In addition, this decision will allow us the opportunity to dedicate more time and resources to growing our owned brands – Rocky, Georgia Boot, Durango and Lehigh – which carry significantly higher gross margins.”

Dickies boots sales represented about 4 percent of Rocky Brands’ $229.5 million in sales last year, the company said.

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SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment is offering free one-day admission to any United Kingdom, Irish or continental European tourists stranded in Florida due to the interruption in international air travel caused by Icelandic volcanic ash.

Park officials said the offer is valid starting April 17 at SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica waterpark and Busch Gardens Tampa.

Stranded tourists wanting to take advantage of the offer must present a valid return airline ticket from April 14 through April 21 — or until normal flight schedules resume — plus a valid ID such as a passport or drivers license to the parks’ front gate guest services window.

One ticket will be offered at each park for each return flight ticket presented along with a valid ID. Children under age 3 are free.

Additional information is available by calling (888) 800-5447 or visiting http://www.seaworldparks.co.uk.

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Retail sales soared in March, the government said Wednesday, in the latest sign of improving consumer confidence.

The Commerce Department said total retail sales jumped 1.6% last month, the largest monthly increase since November, from an upwardly revised 0.5% gain in February.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had anticipated that sales would rise 1.2% in the month.

March retail sales surged 7.6% compared to the same month in 2009.

Sales excluding autos and auto parts rose 0.6% last month, also topping forecasts. A consensus of economists had projected sales excluding autos to edge up 0.5% in March.

Sales of motor vehicles and parts posted a strong 6.7% gain, while sales of electronics and appliances fell 1.3%.

"This is another good reading," said Adam York, an economist at Wells Fargo. "But we’re not out of the woods yet."

York said March sales benefited from promotions tied to the Easter holiday, which came earlier than usual this year. He said some of those gains may be shifted over to the April report.

"These are decent numbers," he said. "It suggests that the consumer is recovering, but by no means are we looking at a strong economic recovery."

The rebound in retail sales comes as the labor market has shown tentative signs of improvement. The Labor Department said earlier this month that the economy gained more jobs in March than any other month in the last three years guaranteed pay day loans.

Sales at many of the nation’s retail chains reported strong sales in March due to unusually warm weather, Easter shopping and improved consumer confidence.

Thomson Reuters, which tracks monthly same-store sales for 30 chains including Costco (COST, Fortune 500) and Target (TGT, Fortune 500), said last week that chain stores posted the biggest single monthly sales gain on record in March, extending a run of seven straight monthly increases.

All of this bodes well for the economy, which is driven mainly by consumer spending.

After a prolonged slump, U.S. gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, turned positive in the second half of 2009. But the subsequent gains in GDP have been driven mostly by reductions in business inventories and government stimulus.

The economy remains vulnerable enough for policymakers at the Federal Reserve to maintain interest rates near historic lows to help boost activity.

The Fed will release its latest report on regional economic activity later Wednesday. Separately, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will testify before a joint session of Congress on the economic outlook.  

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The economy seems to be recovering but is "far from being out of the woods," Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke said in a speech Wednesday.

Bernanke, speaking before the Dallas Regional Chamber business group, said unemployment remains one of the "toughest problems" for policymakers, and one that he expects to ease only gradually.

Bernanke said he expects the Fed’s easy money policies and a gathering recovery "will be sufficient to slowly reduce the unemployment rate over the coming year" from its current level of 9.7%. But he admitted that the jobless rate remains a major concern.

"The economy has stabilized and is growing again, although we can hardly be satisfied when 1 out of every 10 U.S. workers is unemployed and family finances remain under great stress," Bernanke said.

The Fed chief also noted that bank lending continues to be weak and inflation expectations stable. Those observations should allow the central bank to continue to hold short-term interest rates near zero percent for what the Fed has called an "extended period" while keeping prices stable.

Fed meeting transcripts released Tuesday show some officials remain concerned that the economy could slip from its recent recovery track in the second half, as companies work through inventories accumulated in the downturn and fiscal stimulus payments slow.

Signs that the recovery is faltering could prompt officials to expand their support for the markets and delay a long-awaited policy tightening.

Investors have been anxious to see the Fed tighten monetary policy after nearly a year and a-half of near-zero interest rates. In the past two months, the Fed has ended a year-long bond purchase program and raised the rate it charges banks for emergency borrowing.

Among those seeing a need to tighten policy is Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig. In a speech Wednesday in New Mexico, he called for the Fed to drop its extended-period commitment and to "sometime soon" begin raising the key fed funds overnight lending target to 1% from its recent range of 0%-0.25%.

That said, the Fed has made clear it’s in no hurry to tighten policy, with the recovery in its earliest stages and so many Americans out of work.

Bernanke also questioned whether still-weak property markets could continue to hamper consumers and the financial system.

"Mortgage delinquencies for both subprime and prime loans continue to rise as do foreclosures," he said. "The commercial real estate sector remains troubled, which is a concern for communities and for banks holding commercial real estate loans."

Bernanke also said the United States must confront its profligate ways sooner rather than later if it is to avoid a fiscal crisis. Americans will have to make tough choices on the balance between higher taxes and lower spending on various priorities, he said.

Investors have been fretting about the nation’s grim budget picture and its need for overseas financing, though a sale of government bonds Wednesday shows demand for U.S. debt hasn’t ebbed.

"Unless we as a nation demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal responsibility, in the longer run we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth," Bernanke said. 

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General Motors made it official on Wednesday: It is shutting down the Hummer SUV brand and offering rich rebates in a bid to move the remaining 2,200 vehicles.

Buyers can get $6,000 rebates on a 2009 model year Hummer H2 full-sized SUV or H3 mid-sized SUV.

GM is also offering $5,000 on the 2009 Hummer H3T, a pick-up version of the H3, and $4,000 on the few 2010 H3T’s that were made and remain in stock.

Buyers with good credit can also get 0% financing for six years on all Hummer models.

Hummer H3 prices start at about $31,000.

GM sold fewer than 300 Hummers last month. Hummer sales, which had been suffering anyway largely because of the vehicle’s reputation for poor fuel economy, have been hammered by uncertainty over the brand’s future.

Even a $6,000 rebate may not make a new Hummer a good deal, though, said Jeannine Fallon, a spokeswoman for the automotive Web site Edmunds.com.

Even if the H3 entirely meets your needs, buyers who may want to sell or trade in the vehicle in a few years will want to think twice, she said.

"Five years from now, who’s going to want your car?" Fallon said.

Hummer’s image has been ravaged by environmentalists, she said, and its been damaged even further by the fact that GM decided to discontinue the brand. Besides that, she said, the fuel economy of relatively light-weight crossover SUVs will continue to improve, leaving Hummers even farther behind.

Fallon may be overestimating how much people care about brand image, countered Robyn Eckard, a spokeswoman for Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com.

"People used to care about brands and what a brand says about them," she said. "Nobody cares anymore."

Today’s car shoppers are looking for deals, she said. And the same will be true in a few years. That big rebate will only make it that much easier for Hummer owners to offer a good deal in the used car market later, she said.

"Hummer is a good deal now, and it will be a good deal five years from now," she said.

The automaker announced last year that it was letting Hummer go as part of its restructuring plan. A planned sale of Hummer to a Chinese heavy equipment manufacturer, which would have allowed production of the SUVs to continue, fell through in February.

General Motors now retains only four brands: Cadillac, Buick, GMC and Chevrolet. Of the four brands GM dropped only one, the Swedish Saab brand, was successfully sold off. It has been purchased by Dutch exotic car manufacturer Spyker.

A plan to sell Saturn to the Penske Automotive Group, an auto dealership operator, fell through after no manufacturer could be found to supply vehicles for the brand after GM stopped. GM is also closing down the Pontiac brand. No attempt was ever made to sell it. 

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Eden’s Fresh Co. opened a new restaurant in downtown Orlando, its second in Central Florida, on April 2.

The Winter Park-based restaurant, which specializes in salads, wraps and other fresh foods, debuted a 2,700-square-foot eatery with an outdoor patio in the Seaside Plaza building on South Orange Avenue. The space was previously occupied by Sobik’s Subs.

Owner Brian Certo said the downtown location also serves breakfast, something he plans to expand to his Winter Park location in the near future.

The restaurant signed a five-year lease at the end of January for the space, said Yvonne Baker, senior leasing representative with landlord Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE: HIW).

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