In an article titled "Beware the House of Cards" (subs. reqd.), Sandra Ward writes for this week's Barrons about the challenges facing US credit card issuers as "more and more consumers are falling behind on their monthly card payments." In particular, she discusses credit card securitization and "excess spreads", a measure of the profitability of a securitized trust's profitability, noting that "if the excess spread dips to zero, the credit-card issuer must pay off the bondholders and bring the trusts' assets back onto its balance sheet." [Editor's note: See the FDIC's Credit Card Securitization Manual to earn more about credit card securitization.]

Today's New York Times includes an editorial titled "Curbing Credit Card Predators" discussing the recent actions announced by federal regulators regarding credit card issuer practices and suggesting that more legislative action in needed in Congress to "to get fair, clear credit card rules that allow [Americans[ to make informed spending decisions." The editorial suggests that waiting for the implementation date of 2010 is too long and that Congress should make the changes and other reforms effective immediately.