WSJ: Banks may see record credit card losses

... A broader range of consumers now carry cards, and many run consistent credit balances to fund their lifestyles. This has led to successively higher peaks over the years in credit card charge-off rates.
The danger is that the current financial downturn results in a new, far-higher peak charge-off rate that leads to unexpectedly large losses at banks and other card issuers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122470268947059267.html

The Federal Reserve reported that the credit card charge-off rate was 5.47% at the end of Q2

http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/10/wsj-banks-may-see-record-credit-card.html