The Korpacz Real Estate Investor Survey shows real estate investors don’t expect a recovery in the commercial sector until late 2011 or 2012. In addition, billions in commercial mortgages are expected to come due in 2010.

Self-storage has fared better than most other commercial real estate classes. Revenue has declined but remains relatively stable compared to office, multi-family and warehouse sectors, the report shows. Overall, investors are optimistic about self-storage investment.

Despite the challenges, the firm says next year will be a good time to purchase commercial real estate. Prices will likely be influenced by politics rather than occupancy rates, PwC says. However, sales activity will likely remain sluggish across all property types. Government policy has already had a positive influence on the commercial real estate sector and will likely determine the shape of its recovery, the firm says.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Monday announced the signing of an extension of a state law that otherwise would have expired at the end of this tax year.

Taxpayers may continue claiming a state income tax credit of up to $50 for single filers and up to $100 for married couples filing a joint return.

As lenders shore up credit risk, the criteria for what is considered an excellent credit score are changing. In the past, a credit score above 720 was considered a good credit score, and would be sufficient to get you approved for credit cards or loans with the best terms. In today’s lending environment, aim for a credit score of 750-760, if you are planning to apply for a new loan or a credit card with good rewards and rates in 2010.

To find out where you stand at the start out the New Year, pull a free copy of your credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com if you have not done so recently. You are entitled to a free copy once a year. To find out what your credit score is, pay the $8-12 additional charge required, or alternatively, use this handy FICO Score Estimator from Bankrate.com.

2. Bolster Your Credit Limits

In 2010, credit card companies will continue to drop cardholders that don’t contribute to their bottom line. That includes both cardholders that are considered risky, because of their credit score or borrowing profile, as well unprofitable cardholders, i.e. those who never use their credit cards.

To avoid being singled out for account closure or a credit line decrease, use all of your credit cards regularly, e.g. by cycling through them every two or three months. Avoid using all your cards in any given month; this makes payments tricky to manage and increases your risk of late payments and penalty fees. Instead, pick one or two cards to use for one month, then move on to another one to two cards, and so on. Synchronize the due date for all your credit cards, so you don’t have to constantly keep track of when different cards are coming due.

3. Watch Your Credit Utilization Ratio

While most people know that they need to pay their bills on time to keep their credit score high, most are not familiar with how to optimize the credit utilization component of the credit score. Yet, this important ratio makes up a full 30 percent of FICO scores.

The credit utilization ratio is the ratio between the total credit limit available on all your credit cards and the total amount of outstanding balances. If you use up a large portion of your available credit, lenders view it as an indication of financial distress, and this dings your credit score. In short, the more credit card debt you have relative to your total credit available, the higher your credit utilization ratio, and the lower your credit score.

Your credit utilization ratio will not just affect your credit score, it will also put you at higher risk for credit limit cuts. If credit card companies see that you’re using up much of your available credit, they will consider you a high-risk cardholder and will be more likely to single you out for a credit limit decrease.

To determine your credit utilization ratio, read through your credit report and total the amount of credit you have available (if the information listed in the credit report is not correct, be sure to correct it (see below)). Then total the revolving balances on your credit cards. Divide the total debt outstanding by the total credit limit to arrive at your credit utilization ratio. To have the best effect on your credit score, the ratio should be below 30 percent, and preferably at 10 to 20 percent.

4. Monitor Your Credit Report

Regularly look through your credit report to make sure all your credit cards all still open. Card issuers have been closing accounts left and right, and they don’t have to give cardholders notice of the cancellation. If a credit card with a high limit has been cancelled, call the card issuer and ask to get it reinstated. Many will oblige you if you have been a good customer in the past. Be sure to explain that you plan to use the card more actively in the future. Similarly if a credit limit has been cut, call the credit card company to inquire why, and ask what you can to get the credit limit back or at least increased.

Michelle Singletary is a columnist for The Washington Post.

The culprits: higher fees and rate increases. About 20% of survey respondents reported having been hit with a rate increase so far this year, double the number for the same period in 2008, and 14% of customers reported incurring late fees, up from 11% a year ago.

Those charges are making the plight of consumers with credit card debt worse. The survey found that customers carrying balances had the biggest decline in satisfaction.

Consumers struggling to manage debt aren’t the only ones who’ve been hurt by the recent downturn. Credit-card companies have been hurt, too, triggering some of those higher fees and shorter credit lines.

“When the economy turned, not only did it impact [banks’] stock prices — their financial situation — but also their customers all started to suffer, so there were defaults, and there were late payments,” says Bill Hardekopf, the CEO of LowCards.com, a credit-card comparison site. “What credit-card issuers started to do was cut their financial risk,” Hardekopf says.

New legislation passed this year is designed to offer consumers more protection. New regulations setting the notification period for rate changes and the schedule for bill payments went into effect in August, and other rules will take effect in February. Many banks are making changes to customers’ accounts now, before the new rules restrict their ability to do so.

Between the new regulation and the recent credit crunch, the bottom line for consumers is that credit standards are tightening – banks are looking to reduce the risk of lending, and the government is trying to prevent consumers from getting in too far over their heads. That means some rude surprises for some consumers who suddenly don’t have the access to credit they expected. However, consumers taking the long view should see these changes as good news, says Curtis Arnold, the founder of CardRatings.com.

“We’re going to be less likely to get into trouble in terms of credit card debt. We’re going to have more consumer protections,” Arnold says. “It’s going to ultimately lead to a lot better consumer experience.”

Here are a few commonly reported frustrations about the credit-card industry – and a few tips on how to keep them from getting to you:

Late Payment Fees

These fees are taking the biggest bite out of credit card customers’ satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power and Associates survey. The solution? Don’t just pay your bill on time – pay it early, so you can be sure it will be processed in time to avoid a fee, Hardekopf says.

“Pay all your bills on time,” he adds. Late payments on other bills can hurt your credit score, which could leave you vulnerable to other nasty surprises from your credit-card company.

When the CARD Act takes full effect in February, credit-card companies will be required to get a customer’s permission before processing a charge that would incur an over-limit fee. The law also tightens standards on practices that make it easier to get a late fee, like changing the payment due date each month or setting a deadline over the weekend or during the middle of the day. Fees will also have to be “reasonable and proportional,” according to guidelines developed by the Federal Reserve, says Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney for the National Consumer Law Center, an advocacy group that follows the credit industry.

Q: I checked my credit report and saw an inquiry from the hospital system where my wife recently gave birth. What’s the purpose of a credit inquiry by a health care provider?

Could someone be denied care based on their credit report/credit score?

– Surprised Patient

A: Congratulations on your growing family.

No one can check your credit report or credit score without your permission. When you brought your wife to the hospital, paperwork was probably the last thing on your mind.

“When you signed the paperwork for the hospital admittance you also signed an authorization for the hospital to perform a credit check,” said Reed Fraasa, a certified financial planner with Highland Financial Advisors in Riverdale.

If you don’t regularly read the fine print, there have probably been many other times you’ve given permission for a credit check without realizing it. At a hospital, though, the use of your credit information has nothing to do with the care you will receive.

“Hospitals are allowed to pull your credit reports and credit scores but only under the provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), more commonly referred to as ‘Permissible Purposes,’” said John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education at Credit.com.

Ulzheimer said they do not use the information as a determining factor to grant or deny care but they can and do use it to determine your likelihood of paying them back, especially if you have an unusually high deductible or are paying out of your pocket.

Essentially, he said, they are granting you a form of credit and they want to know whether or not you’re going to pay them back, just like any other creditor.

There is a fairly vocal and uninformed minority that believes credit reports and scores are used by hospitals to determine whether or not to provide care.

“That’s absolutely untrue and does more to terrify potential patients than it does to set the record straight,” Ulzheimer said. “Credit data is used by their receivables departments simply to identify, after care has been provided, who is likely and who isn’t likely to pay.”

No matter your score, Fraasa said you won’t be denied care, in part because of the Hippocratic Oath. It says, among other things, that the health of a patient will be a doctor’s first consideration, and that doctors won’t permit considerations of age, disease or disability, creed, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, social standing or any other factor to intervene between the doctor’s job and the patient’s needs.

Should I review my credit report before I look for a job? I’ve heard that bad credit could hurt you looking for work, but how can that be? And what can I do to clean up a report quickly as I look for work?

You should definitely review your credit reports well before you look for a new job, according to John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education for Credit.com. Employers have the right under federal law to pull your credit reports as part of pre-employment and continuing employment screening. They do need your permission to do so.

They are generally looking for responsibility in your personal financial life. Ulzheimer noted that employers do not get your credit scores as they are not provided by the credit bureaus along with the credit reports sold for employment screening.

The credit reports sold for employer screening are different from those sold for underwriting. There are several provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act that levy requirements on the bureaus when they sell pre-employment credit reports.

In order to comply with those provisions, they must know that a report is being used for employment versus for underwriting. The type of report sold for employment screening does not come with a score.

If you have a bad credit score, though, it is possible it could be tougher for you to find a job. Ulzheimer said a bad credit score typically is synonymous with having a poor credit report.

Consumers can get a free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com or toll-free at (877) 322-8228.

TMZ has learned that in 2007, Jacko’s average credit score was 563.67 (Equifax 592, Transunion: 524, Experian: 575) which most experts consider very low. (According to creditreport.com, the average credit rating for people in California is 672.)

The reasons for MJ’s credit woes … We’re told he was dinged for several reasons, including:

– A derogatory public record or collection filed
– The amount owed on delinquent accounts
– Number of accounts with delinquency
– Too many inquiries in the last 12 months

We’ve also learned Barneys New York actually shut down Jacko’s credit line after he racked up more than $224,000 in one billing cycle, this according to Jacko’s credit report.

MJ’s troubles seem to have stemmed from a large net worth but nearly no disposable income. As we reported earlier, MJ’s “Cash in Bank” was $668,215 — or .05% of his net worth.

The Charlotte Observer reports that – especially in a recession – a crippling cycle of unemployment can be created as more companies pull credit reports as they decide what people to hire, a process that can lead to a “Catch 22” situation during background checks where jobseekers need jobs to improve their credit, but can’t get jobs because their credit is poor.

According to a 2004 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, nearly half (43 percent) of companies nationwide said they “always” or “sometimes” checked credit reports of jobseekers, the Observer reports, as compared to a similar study in 1998 in which only one-quarter (25 percent) of companies said they “regularly” or “sometimes” checked credit reports of jobseekers.

While only a few states have passed rules limiting how companies use credit reports during background checks on jobseekers, a bill currently in the U.S. House called the ‘Equal Employment for All Act’ (H.R. 3149) would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to prohibit the use of consumer credit checks against prospective and current employees during hiring or firing processes, thus preventing employers from using credit reports as part of pre-employment background checks. However, employers counter that checking credit reports helps companies fully assess jobseekers during pre-employment background checks, especially those who may have access to finances, the Observer reports.

A credit report is a summary of information about a person’s financial history collected by three main credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – and checked by employers, banks, insurers, landlords, cell phone companies, and utilities, among others, before they do business with that person.

Although, according to ConsumerReports.org, consumers find roughly 13 million inaccuracies on their credit reports each year, more than 40 percent of the consumers surveyed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) hadn’t checked their credit reports for errors. Another recent survey by the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) showed that 79 percent of credit reports contained errors of some kind, and over half (54 percent) contained personal information that was misspelled, outdated, or otherwise incorrect.

Jobseekers in particular are advised to check their credit reports so they know what information employers will see BEFORE they see it. The same goes for their criminal background checks. The last thing jobseekers need, especially in these tough economic times, is to have a mistake on their credit report or criminal background check cost them much needed employment.

MyBackgroundCheck.com – a pioneer in consumer requested and applicant supplied “personal” background checks for individuals – offers a service that jobseekers can use to take control of their own personal information and make sure their credit report and background check information is kept up-to-date, accurate, and secure from identity theft and fraud. For more information about how “personal” background checks can help jobseekers find employment, please visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. To follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com

The Amex Pharmaceutical Index fell nearly 1% to 240 and the Amex Biotechnology Index fell 3.4% to 628. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recently fell 3.5% to 7504.98.

Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) shares fell $1.31, or 3.9% at $32.44. On Sunday, Lilly reported inconclusive results from a mid-stage clinical trial for its new schizophrenia medication mGlu2/3. Despite the setback, Lilly plans to pursue further testing of the compound, which it says carries fewer negative side effects than other antipsychotic leading medications.

Lilly already markets one of the most widely-prescribed antipsychotic therapies, Zyprexa.

Shares of Merck & Co. (MRK) fell 2.6% to $26.46 while its merger partner Schering-Plough Corp. (SGP) was off 2% to $23.69.

According to a report in the Financial Times over the weekend, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is seeking “concessions” from Merck and Schering-Plough in exchange for not interfering with their proposed merger. J&J and Schering-Plough co-market the lucrative rheumatoid arthritis drug Remicade through a joint venture. J&J also reportedly has rights to a successor compound to Remicade called golimumab.

Share of J&J (JNJ) fell 13 cents to $52.70.

Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) tumbled 24% to $3.43 after reporting Phase III clinical data for its anti-obesity drug. While the data was largely positive, Dow Jones Newswires reports it might not be robust enough to win favor with U.S. regulators.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) broke from the downward trend, with shares up 1.3% to $47.22.

Over the weekend, Abbott reported that its new drug-coated stent Xience V was shown to be more effective in a long-term study than the market leader, Boston Scientific Corp.’s (BSX) Taxus. Boston Scientific also markets the Xience stent, under the brand name Promus.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Orlando, Fla.

-Val Brickates Kennedy; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com