In the wake of the nations’s economic meltdown, financial literacy and financial consumer protections have taken on an urgency in the Obama White House. On Tuesday, Obama’s new Advisory Council on Financial Literacy was launched at a meeting chaired by Jonathan Rogers with fellow Chicagoans, White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett and Public Engagement chief Tina Tchen at the table.

“There was a consensus that we work with younger people and get people exposed to all the issues around financial literacy at younger ages,” Rogers told me after the meeting at the Treasury Department. “Not only does it make them better investors and savers when they get older, but their parents and their aunts and their uncles can learn from the young people.”

More than 8 million consumers stopped using credit cards over the past year. The decline stems from a combination of consumer choices and bank actions.

An analysis by credit reporting agency TransUnion found that use of general purpose credit cards bearing MasterCard or Visa logos, or issued by Discover or American Express, fell more than 11 percent in the third quarter, compared with the July to September period last year.

About 62 million people now have an active card, compared with 70 million a year ago.

The Chicago company found that consumers in the subprime category, or those with low credit ratings, were believed to be without cards mostly because they were shut down by banks after payments fell behind or balances were written off.

So where do our critics think consumers should go for short-term credit?

The local Better Business Bureau office has issued a warning about scam artists making the rounds in central Ohio, posing as collectors of nonexistent payday loans.

A Logan resident reported a call threatening legal action and imprisonment in attempting to collect a $300 debt that the person did not owe, the BBB said.

“Phony debt collectors use a variety of scare tactics in an attempt to commit theft,” said Joan Coughlin, BBB spokeswoman.

Pay Off Debt

If you’ve already tried to make the denominator bigger, it’s time to focus on making the top number smaller. Paying off debt is the best way to do that because you lower your total balance owed, you lower the total amount of interest you pay, and you improve your credit score at the same time! It isn’t as simple as it sounds, however, because you probably wouldn’t be carrying all that debt if you could pay it off, right?

Charge Less

The credit report doesn’t care whether or not you carry a balance when it calculates your utilization. It takes your statement’s closing balance, even if you pay it in full that same period. If you want to get a quick boost in your score, use your credit cards less or don’t use them at all. By keeping your statement balances lower, you lower your credit utilization without much effort. If carrying cash makes you concerned, or you simply love the feel of swiping plastic, use a debit card.

Consolidate Credit Cards

If you have multiple cards from one issuer, consider consolidating the newer cards into the older cards. You can do this by calling up customer service and asking if they offer this. Only do this if they keep the total credit limit the same. The goal of this move is to increase the average age of your revolving lines of credit without reducing your total credit limit, which will affect your utilization.