Credit card debt can be a problem even for people who consider themselves high earners or even wealthy.

First, it's an embarrassment to people who want to simply appear wealthy since many run up credit card debt but then don't want to talk about it. Talking about credit card debt implies you don't have enough to pay it off every month.

"But even if you are wealthy and your spending is equal to what you're bringing in, if you lose your job, if your business gets into trouble,' big problems begin, according to money and business expert Derek Kinney.

Financial expert on lending and credit Janice Spooner says she sees it all the time, "and it's what I call 'lifestyle inflation and social pressures.' Income drives these people's spending habits

"These high earners," Ms. Spooner says, "drive up their expenditures with luxury vacations and social events in order to match their peers."

The biggest problems seem to kick in when unexpected trouble occurs, business expert Kinney says.

"When 30 days are up and the money's not there [to pay off the card bill], now they're headed for a really bad place. When you are talking with wealthy people there is a status element in play and often times they want to look like they have money even if they don't.

"And to keep that image going, the credit card is the first step they take.

"See, most people think of credit cards as being used by people who aren't able to make ends meet, but even if you are where your income and your expenditures meet, if you lose your job, if your business gets into trouble, a large number might not be able to pay the credit card bills.

"We could see a tsunami of a financial crisis, and many people just aren't talking about it."

And credit expert Spooner adds, "It's so easy for anyone, even the wealthy, to get lulled into credit card debt with points and rewards and offers, but if you don't pay it off it becomes debt.

"And those interest rates just keep on increasing, upwards of 28- or 30-percent now, so it ends up costing a lot more than that 30 days."