MEXICO CITY - Plastic skulls and skeleton cutouts lined the aisles of Wal-Mart on Mexico City's University Avenue, ready for last-minute buyers ahead of festivities for Day of the Dead.

But the really scary stuff was in front of the store, where workers passed out fliers offering Wal-Mart credit cards - at a 69.6 percent annual percentage rate.

In Mexico, already-high interest rates are rising even further as banks worldwide tighten lending limits amid a worsening economic crisis. Some economists are worried it could send millions of Mexicans spinning into a cycle of debt, a situation that could hurt the United States, Mexico's largest trading partner.

"There is definitely a risk because you're combining high interest rates with lower income," said Liliana Rojas-Suarez, an economist at the Center for Global Development in Washington.

Up to now, Mexico's financial system has suffered less damage than that seen at U.S. banks because of tougher lending terms imposed after Mexico's own crash in the 1990s.

Mexico also has a much smaller market in derivatives, investment instruments that amplified the credit crisis in the United States.

However, the financial burden on Mexican families is getting steadily heavier.

Since December, average bank credit-card rates have risen 10 percentage points, from 31.61 percent to 41.78 percent in September.

Pamphlets advertising Wal-Mart's variable-interest credit cards warn applicants that interest rates could be 65 percentage points higher than Mexico's prime rate, currently at 8.73 percent.

Costco charge cards carry a 52 percent interest rate. Visa cards from Banamex, Citibank's Mexican branch, charge 46.49 percent.

Woolworth charges 61 percent on a store credit card financed by General Electric. And Suburbia, a chain of clothing stores owned by Wal-Mart, is charging 70.6 percent on its variable-rate card.

Mexicans tend to use non-bank loans, including store cards, far more than bank credit, according to the Financial Services Consumer Protection Commission.In the United States, Wal-Mart's variable-rate charge cards range from 9.87 to 19.87 percent. Nationwide, the average rate for variable-rate credit cards last week was 11.68, according to Bankrate.com.

In recent years, the number of mortgages and car loans also has soared in Mexico, at rates much higher than in the United States.

Ford, for example, was offering five-year, 17 percent loans on a Focus sedan in Mexico City last week, and that was with a 25 percent down payment.

Mexicans are already having trouble meeting their payments, according to the consumer-protection commission.

Credit-card accounts in default rose 28 percent from January to July, from about $1.6 billion to $2 billion.

The number of debtors coming for help at the commission's office on Mexico City's main Insurgentes Avenue has risen from 40 to 75 a day in recent months, counselor Merari Murillo said. She said the increase began around June.

Mexicans are already more than twice as likely to default on their debts as Americans. About 2.7 percent of Mexican loans go into default, compared with 1.1 percent in the United States.

Credit has always been more expensive in Mexico than the United States, said Rafael Amiel, Latin America director at Global Insight, a consulting firm.

Capital is scarcer in Mexico, and thus, banks can charge more for it, Amiel said.

There are fewer banks, meaning less competition. And the banks charge high service fees, allowing them to make profits even though they loan less money.

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