Is credit card debt the next wave of the subprime meltdown?

With the fallout from subprime debacle sending at least one investment bank CEO to the guillotine, some experts think they've found the next domino in the consumer credit crisis: credit cards. Credit card delinquencies are rising and, with homes no longer available as a revolving piggy bank there's an uptick in the number of people taking out cash advances and ramping up their credit card debt.

According to Fortune, "The doomsday scenario would play out something like this: Just like CDOs and other asset-backed securities, credit card debt is sliced, diced, and sold off again as packages of securities. Rising delinquencies would hurt not only the banks involved but the securities backed by the credit card receivables. Those securities would decline in value as consumers defaulted, leading to bank losses as well as portfolio losses in the hedge funds, institutions, and pensions that own the securities. If the damage is widespread enough, it could wreak havoc on the economy much as the subprime crisis has done. "

And here's where it gets really exciting. The subprime crisis was based on about $900 billion worth of risky loans to borrowers with shaky credit histories. There is $15 billion more worth of credit card debt in the United States. While much of that would not be considered subprime, here's the problem: It's unsecured. You can't repo fancy meals or vacations to exotic locales.

And all the banks can do is watch as people max out their credit cards (The amount of debt borrowed is far lower than the amount of debt currently available to consumers on shaky ground), hoping that this isn't the next disaster.