Credit card industry has been hammered with delinquent debt and it will get even worse before it gets better.

With on-going financial crises consumers are staying away from using credit cards and rather use cash. Those who are unable to make minimum payments each month are simply walking away from the debt.

One of the biggest credit card insurers Bank Of America, reported 68 percent decline in third-quarter profit, largely to contributed credit card losses.

U.S consumers that used housing boom to their advantage exposed how the credit market was viewed. Even with little savings many Americans were using the advantage of home equity in their homes which were replaced by savings. Many relied that one day they can simply use the equity and refinance and pull cash out. That led to tremendous spending in retail sales as retailers experienced boom. However, savings dwindled.

But with recent restricted credit from mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, consumers are feeling the pinch and are adjusting quickly. Banks on the other hand are still having problems to adjust quick enough, as they are freezing their credit.

Banks used to hand out credit cards anywhere, where now they are reducing limits, rising interest rates which all leads to lower credit scores. Those who gave you a chance to improve your credit are not on the other side of the table.

Even U.S automakers are warning of near collapse and if Congress does not pass $25 billion bailout, automakers warn of massive job losses equal to more than 3 million.

2009 may not be as pleasant for many Americans as they thought. Credit card companies last action is collection of debt. And they will try to collect it as massive debt is piling up. Many Americans that cannot longer pay debt will receive letters that their debt is in collection and some of them will be taken to court as credit card companies will go after you wages, salaries to get the debt repaid.

Credit card debt grew at a modest 1.2 percent annual rate in September to $971.4 billion, well below the 7.4 percent increase recorded in 2007, according to data from the Federal Reserve.

How bad it will get will depend on how many jobs will be lost as the U.S economy continue to slump.  If unemployment rate climbs to 8.5 percent, that would mean 3 million people might be out of work and likely struggling to pay credit card debt and mortgages.