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Consumers get the hard sell from credit-card companies, which continuously invent ways to parlay the plastic. But those who push their debt to the limit find there's no pot of gold in their gold cards.

I'll get this," Cathy said to her dinner date. "I already owe so much to Visa I'll never notice it." The Washington paralegal may sound cavalier about running up her credit-card balance, but for a growing number of consumers, revolving debt is a serious problem.

Americans owe more than $387 billion on their credit cards, a frightening new record that many financial experts say is no better for the economy than it is for consumers. By any indicator, people increasingly are falling behind on their credit-card payments.

Delinquencies -- accounts with payments at least 30 days late -- are at near record levels, according to the American Bankers Association, or ABA. The trade group reported in September that 3.26 percent of credit-card accounts were delinquent, just shy of the record 3.34 percent in the first quarter of 1991. Total consumer borrowing topped the $1 trillion mark in October, according to the Federal Reserve. Americans owe $65.5 billion more than they did a year ago, even before the Christmas shopping season.

Shoppers likely charged at least $100 billion worth of gifts and glitter in the five weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, economists' estimate. This includes purchases on Visa and MasterCard, department-store and gas credit cards, but not charge cards such as American Express and Diners Club, which must be paid off in full. Americans hold an average of nine credit cards each.

Some experts are concerned that consumers are in over their heads. They fear the rapidly expanding load of debt could steamroll an economy whose expansion is slowing rapidly. Wages are stagnant, even for highly educated people, and personal savings are at an all-time low.

"The picture is, some consumers are very, very deeply in debt," says Charles McMillion, chief economist with MBG Information Services, who adds that auto-leasing and home-equity loans also are rising. "Consumers have never had so much debt." Among the many reasons for the rise:

* There are more ways to use a credit card than ever before. Shoppers can charge groceries and even a teeth cleaning, as well as on-line services, car insurance and similar expenses.

* The introduction of rebate cards -- which typically offer users credit toward a new vehicle, frequent-flyer mileage or cash back -- has lured shoppers to charge purchases that used to be paid with cash or checks.

* Banks and other issuers are hitting creditworthy consumers with a hard sell: low introductory rates, lower interest rates and flexible payment schedules. Even the credit-questionable can get a secured credit card with a four-figure limit.

"Credit card usage in general has exploded over the last 10 years," says Robert B. McKinley, president of RAM Research, a credit-card consultancy in Frederick, Md. "The cards are very much a part of everyday life: Everyone has them."

A swipe of the card has become so natural that many consumers don't realize how much they have charged, nor how long it will take to pay off. Seventy percent of respondents to a recent ABA survey said it would take them "two months or less" to pay off their holiday debt. The typical payoff time actually is six months. "People are absolutely kidding themselves," says Nancy Judy, ABA spokeswoman.

Two-thirds of American credit-card users carry their balance forward, according to a variety of surveys. By most estimates, card users will have paid more than $54 billion in interest payments alone by the end of 1995 -- again, a record. "That's always good news for the industry, for card issuers," says McKinley. "But it's not for consumers."

Interest rates on most bank cards run in excess of 15 percent, and department store charge cards can be as high as 24 percent. Those interest fees accrue in a hurry and can make even budgeted purchases far too dear.

Debt counselors have seen an alarming increase in the number of people seeking help after a credit-card melting down. More Americans are living closer to the edge, with little savings to get them through a medical or fiscal emergency. Often, families hit a fiscal thicket and are forced to charge their way out. "It indicates that more families are living on the edge and having problems handling their finances," says Joanne Kerstetter of the Washington-based Consumer Credit Counseling Service. More than 21,000 people have enrolled in Bankcard Holders' 2-year-old "Debt Zapper," a personalized repayment program that shows consumers exactly how much to pay on which bills.

Delinquencies are bad news for banks as well, according to industry expert McKinley. Banks know late payments are a precursor to writing off uncollectible accounts, and most banks that issue credit cards have been beefing up their loan-loss reserves.

But Mark Vitner, an economist at First Union Corp.'s Charlotte, N.C., headquarters, says that most banks are not affected. "The consumer finance companies and those who take high-risk customers are seeing the increase" says Vintner. But for consumer credit companies and users alike, America's credit cards are almost maxed out.

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Retailers eyeing the potential for profits and promotional value have mounted a campaign to break the "cash or credit" financial monopoly at many stores. They hope to convince Americans that "prepaid cards," which resemble credit cards in appearance only, are just as convenient.

Most people are familiar with prepaid phone cards -- consumers who buy the cards pay in advance for long-distance calls. (Europeans have used "smart" cards, or cards with microchips, at pay phones for years.) Mobil Corp. recently took the concept one step further by launching its prepaid gasoline card. Drivers can purchase the card in denominations of up to $100, or they can call an 800 number (strategically placed just above the pumps) to order pre-paids with their credit cards.

Other companies should be quick to follow, in part to take advantage of prepaid cards' promotional value. John Elder, a spokesman for Matrix long-distance service in Hurst, Texas, says that the cards offer companies the opportunity to get their names "out in front of everybody." Firms rarely profit directly from the sale of the cards he points out. Instead, the companies rely on the cards to advertise their products.

Some stores are issuing (or giving away) store-labeled phone cards in an effort to encourage their use. On the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, Mervyn's department stores, a nationwide chain, handed out Joe Montana prepaid calling cards to the first 700 customers to visit its stores.

Ray Hill, vice president of marketing at Interactive Works in Overland Park, Kansas, says some stores, including Sears and Kmart, lure customers to the checkout counters with promises of "prepaid discounts" when the customers use privatized phone cards issued by the store.

Despite all this emphasis on plastic, U.S. consumers still make more than 80 percent of purchases with cash, according to Fred Winkler, senior vice president and head of card products at First Union Corp. in Charlotte, N.C. Even if people do succumb to the lures of plastic, he send, most transactions are worth less than $10, making it difficult for prepaids to break into the card market.

Indeed, consumers seem wary of prepaid cards. But because handling cash usually requires about 3 to 7 percent of a store's operating budget -- significantly higher than the cost of plastic -- retailers will continue to offer incentives to consider plastic over paper.