Credit Cards next?

U.S. Credit Card Delinquencies At Record Highs: Same Dynamics As Mortgages?

* U.S. credit card defaults rise to 20-year high. Analysts estimate credit card charge-offs could climb to between 9 and 10% in 2009 from 6 to 7% at the end of 2008. In that scenario, such losses could total $70bn to $75bn in 2009. The $5 trillion in outstanding credit card lines (of which $800bn is currently drawn upon) are being trimmed even for credit worthy borrowers with Meredith Whitney estimating that over $2 trillion of credit-card lines will be cut in 2009 and $2.7 trillion by the end of 2010

* Losses are particularly severe at American Express and Citigroup amid a deepening recession. AmEx, the largest U.S. charge card operator by sales volume, says net charge-off rate rose in February 2009 to 8.7% from 8.3% in January 2009 as job losses accelerated and the economy deteriorated. For Citigroup, one of the largest issuers of MasterCard cards, default rate soared to 9.33% in February 2009 from 6.95% in January 2009"