Debt load could make Americans vulnerable

The St.Louis Dispatch has a good on article on debt loads:

The tool that has made it ever so easy for Americans to buy and buy and buy is the credit card.

Outstanding balances on credit cards have risen to more than $800 billion, or some $7,200 per U.S. household.

What if interest rates suddenly shot up, say 3 percentage points or 4 percentage points, requiring burdened borrowers to greatly increase the amounts they have to pay each month on their debt?

"It would undermine the housing market, and could quickly result in credit problems that would affect the entire (American) financial system," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com.

After October 17,2005 when the legal minimum payment on credit cards goes from 2%to 4%,we should see some sort of slowdown in economic activity.