A depressed job market, the growing number of Americans without health insurance, ballooning college costs, the increased availability of gambling and the growing use of credit for routine purchases are helping push credit card balances to the breaking point. The result, according to a panel of experts who met recently, could result in the next major banking crisis.

“The scale of this crisis underscores the urgency of our work to assist borrowers buried in personal debt, said Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna. “State attorneys general lead the way, negotiating settlements with sub-prime lenders and persuading home mortgage companies to reduce interest rates for millions of Americans.”

A deepening crisis could have an unpredictable impact on financial markets, as credit card debt has been securitized in the same way that mortgage-back securities were prior to the banking collapse of 2008. In addition, the trend in recent years to consolidate high-interest credit card balances into low-rate home mortgages has further reduced consumers’ equity in their homes as housing prices have plummeted. As a result, credit card debt that could be discharged in bankruptcy has been turned into secured debt that must be paid in full for borrowers to keep their homes.

Borrowers who pay on time can even find themselves impacted by the decision of banks to reduce credit lines in an effort to stem potential defaults.

American consumers owed more than $2.6 trillion in non-mortgage consumer debt, of which $963 billion was credit card debt, and more than $11 trillion in mortgage debt. The shrinking economy, resulted in more than a million personal bankruptcies last year — and that number will likely increase dramatically this year.

“Stemming the number of foreclosures will ultimately stabilize the housing market and provide some breathing room for consumers,” McKenna said.