A look at the increasing default rates among credit card holders and what banks are doing about this (from stltoday.com) :

Bankers are hurting because fewer consumers are paying their bills. Delinquencies were up to 7.1 percent from just 4.6 a year earlier, according to calculations by Bloomberg News. Analysts think they could hit 9 or 10 percent. To a banker, a 10 percent delinquency rate is a capital-devouring monster.

And this isn't a small problem for American families:

As of 2007, 73 percent of American families had a credit card, and 46 percent of families carried a balance, meaning they don't pay the card in full each month, according to Cardtrak.com.

The average balance was $7,100 per household in 2007.

Card issuers are raising APRs and raising monthly payment percentages to deal with this situation. Check cardtrak.com and lowcards.com if your credit card companies aren't giving you a good deal.