The Boston Globe reported on August 21, 2009, credit card companies cut limits on 58 million cardholders spanning from May 2008 to April 2009. This affected about one-third of American consumers. Surprisingly, many of these consumers had good credit scores. Dionne McGrady had planned on using a 0% interest for a year transfer credit card offer to make $8,500 worth of home improvements before her credit limit was cut. Because of this cut, she had to take out a loan to finance the project. She was offered an 11%, 10% down, 12-month loan.