This debit card overdraft problem is eerily reminiscent of the subprime mortgage fiasco, which nearly imploded the U.S. economy in 2008. Mortgage lenders made unsuitable loans to low-income families knowing full well they didn't have the means to make the payments.

Unfortunately, there was a financial incentive for everyone along the mortgage lending pipeline to continue to issue subprime loans.

Now, with debit cards, there is a financial incentive for banks and credit unions to sign a certain segment of debit card users up for overdraft protection services -- so that the lenders don't lose a large source of revenue.

The more customers screw up their accounts, the more overdraft revenue a bank collects. All sorts of alarms should be going off here.

"What can we do to make our credit card your No. 1 card?"

I was stumped by the question posed by a cheery-voiced customer service rep last week. I had called my credit card issuer to request a copy of the credit card agreement for one of my cards.

My colleague Jeremy M. Simon was writing an article about how several credit card issuers, including Bank of America, were no longer revealing penalty interest rates to potential and existing customers and he wanted to see an agreement.

For those who don't know, a penalty interest rate is the rate that you will be charged if you screw up and miss payments. It is a higher rate than the normal APR for purchases. It's also known as a default rate.