Spending on credit cards is rising so much that worries about an overleveraged consumer economy are beginning to surface. 

A CardHub study on credit card debt has spurred a post on the Squared Away blog at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College that asks whether we're on our way to another credit debacle in the event of a downturn in the economy. 

While the first three months of 2015 saw consumers paying down credit card balances with tax refunds and annual salary bonuses, the trend reversed itself for the remaining three quarters of the year. "[T]he new credit card debt added in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2015 were the highest quarterly totals since 2009," said the post.