With unemployment going up (probably another point or so) and the economy negative to flat for 2009 this number can only grow higher. The only real question left is how brutal Congress will allow the credit card companies to be with those in debt. The card companies have plenty of lobbyists working their case to collect the last ounce of flesh so maybe this is not in question either.
Consumers fell further behind on their credit card bills in March even as lenders worked to reduce their exposure to delinquency and default, a top credit bureau executive told Reuters.
Dann Adams, president of U.S. Information Systems for Equifax, said 4.7 percent of payments on bank-issued credit cards were at least 60 days late in March, an increase of 38.3 percent over March 2008.
