Consumers who depend on credit cards to meet their short-term debt needs could be in for more headaches in the coming months, warns one financial analyst.

In the ongoing credit crunch, many consumers have already noticed that credit card companies are tightening their standards for lending and making consumers fewer offers than in the past.

This week, Meredith Whitney of Oppenheimer & Co. warned in a Reuters report that such difficulties could still be in the early stages - she predicts that top credit card companies will pull back about $2 trillion in lines of credit over the next 18 months, or about a 45 percent drop in total consumer credit liquidity.

"In a country that offers hundreds of cereal and soda pop choices, the banking industry has become one that offers very few choices," the news agency quoted Whitney as saying.

The financial analyst often calls it a "dangerous and unprecedented combination" to see credit access curtailed to a significant extent at a time of heavy job losses.

Meanwhile, consumers who do get stuck with cash flow problems as credit card companies tighten their lending can still often take advantage of other options like payday loans.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------