U.S. consumers getting in too deep

Time to put away the plastic, America. You’ve set a new record for credit card debt.

U.S. consumers have $1.02 trillion in high-interest accounts, breaking the old record, according to the Federal Reserve. The last time it was this high was just before the Great Recession of 2007-09.

Think about that: The last time Americans put this much debt on their credit cards, the secondworst financial crisis in 100 years struck weeks later. How soon we forget.

Admittedly, the Great Recession was caused by hundreds of thousands of subprime mortgages and the fraudulent marketing of mortgage-backed securities. But that doesn’t change the simple fact that

credit card debt is bad. Very bad.

“This record should serve as a wake-up call to Americans to focus on their credit card debt. Even if you feel your debt is manageable right now, know that you could be one unexpected emergency away from real trouble,” Matt Schulz, senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com, said. “We simply can’t keep taking on credit card debt forever without it causing major problems.”

The industry is already experiencing warning signs.

The New York Federal Reserve reports that the number of delinquent accounts rose by 7.5 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Capital One Financial Corp., Synchrony Financial and Discover Financial Services all have started setting aside extra cash to write off bad debt as more consumers fail to make their payments.

The fact that default rates are rising is especially troubling now, when unemployment rates are dropping. This is when people should be paying off debts, not running them up.

“America’s credit card balances have never been higher, but there’s no reason to think they won’t just keep climbing,” Schulz warned.

In case no one has ever told you this, credit cards should be paid off at the end of every month. They should be a convenient way to avoid carrying a lot of cash with you. They are not a payday loan. With the cards’ extremely high interest rates, only a fool carries a balance from month to month.

If you are someone who can’t control how much you put on your credit card and are surprised by the balance at the end of the month, here’s what you need to do: Get some scissors, slice up your cards and pay off the balance as quickly as possible. Start using a debit card or cash so that you don’t run up debt.

For the good of the nation’s economy, we need to stop setting these kinds of records.

Otherwise, when the next recession comes, and there is always another recession, our personal debts will only make matters worse.