Ten years ago, French bank BNP Paribas froze three hedge funds that specialized in subprime mortgage debt — the first major sign of the global financial crisis that would a year later lead to the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and the onset of the Great Recession.

Much has changed but so much has not, including the alarming statistic of U.S. credit card debt — that figure now tops a record $1.02 trillion. That’s a level not seen since a decade ago, when Matt Schulz, a senior industry analyst, had just started his job at CreditCards.com.

Many analysts regard Aug. 9, 2007, when BNP froze those three funds, as the moment when the credit crisis truly went global. We spoke with Schulz in New York on the 10-year anniversary of that day.

The following are edited excerpts:

Walden Siew: Where are we 10 years later?

Matt Schulz: It’s been a wild 10 years. A lot of things have just kind of gone back. We’re seeing subprime lending ramp up again, at least in the credit card space, and banks are bending over backward to do what they can to get more customers.

Things have come a really long way since the dark days of the credit crisis, and it’s really flipped completely the other way where now it doesn’t really take great credit to get a credit card. That’s a good thing because it gives opportunities for people to have credit that they may not have been able to get before otherwise, but it’s also a little bit of a scary thing because it means that Americans are running up an awful lot of credit card debt. (The 2017 average credit card debt is $5,284 per U.S. adult with a credit card.)

WS: Are we seeing a new credit crisis coming, this time in the credit card space?

MS: This is definitely a case of history repeating itself, but the thing is we don’t know what the tip of the mountain is when it comes to credit card debt, because when credit card debt started to fall in 2008 in the credit crisis, credit card debt wasn’t the central problem that sent us over the edge. It was the mortgage crisis.

There’s only so much credit card debt that Americans can absorb without running into some major financial issues. It’s really only a matter of time until we start to see more people struggle with late payments and bankruptcies.

WS: The Fed said the U.S. credit card debt is now at an astonishing record $1.02 trillion. Who’s racking up all this debt?

MS: We really have seen all levels, from folks with less than perfect credit to folks with 800 credit scores spending more, and that has been part of what’s driven up America’s credit card balances to these record levels.

Demographically it’s been really interesting with credit cards. There’s been a lot written about how millennials are credit averse, and it makes complete sense because they are so overwhelmed with student loan debt, trying to get their careers under them, but the truth is millennials have really embraced credit cards in some ways.

You have higher-end, upscale millennials who really embrace a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, even though it’s a high annual fee credit card that you wouldn’t have necessarily associated with millennials. They liked it because it offered them really good value and the opportunity to cash in those points for experiences.

WS: Is there any good news on the credit front since the Great Recession?

MS: Since we’ve recovered from the Great Recession, we’ve seen people get more comfortable. We’ve seen people more comfortable in their jobs, more willing to spend, and we’ve seen that they are spending on their credit card again.

The good news at least to this point is that people seem to be handling their business fairly well as it relates to credit cards. Delinquencies and late payments are steadily increasing but they are still really low by historical standards, and they are also well below what we saw in the midst of the credit crisis.

WS: What happens as the Fed continues to raise rates?

MS: Things are OK for now. But any time you hit a record level of credit card debt there’s worry that you’ll get to some sort of tipping point, and it seems like that’s only a matter of time.

The fact is that you can’t have increasing interest rates and record credit card debt that keeps on growing without eventually running into some sort of issue. It’s really a matter of when as opposed to if.

What do you think? What has changed since the global credit crisis hit 10 years ago? And is a new credit crisis coming? To join the conversation, share your thoughts by leaving a comment below and be sure to use #CreditCrisisAnniversary or #CreditCardDebt in your post or article.