People often wonder what Clark thinks of the "no, no, no" plans -- where there's no payment, no interest and no down-payment for a certain number of years. The penny-pinching guru originally thought the danger was limited to such plans encouraging people to buy things they can't afford.

But The Chicago Tribune now reports that the "no, no, no" plans can demolish your credit score. Take out a few of them and the cumulative effect will take a toll. You may find you'll get higher interest rates when insurers check credit scores or even lose job offers if employers check scores.

Meanwhile, Fair Isaac -- the company that compiles the FICO score -- is changing the way it handles authorized user account status. The organization was seeking to eliminate all authorized user credit standing across the board, -- but they've now rethought that approach.

Fair Isaac was initially upset that some criminals figured out how to exploit the idea of being an authorized user. Basically, they generated inflated credit scores for risky candidates by "renting" someone else's good credit. But now Fair Isaac instead developed a new fraud detection method to block the renters and still generate credit scores for those who rightfully get authorized user status from a loved one.

One caveat here, though -- don't give authorized user status to a boyfriend or girlfriend as a way to improve a relationship. If they charge up your card and end the relationship, you're stuck with the bill and the ruined credit (not to mention a broken heart).