While credit card issuers and other companies that lend to consumers have escaped the barrage of defaults that mortgage lenders have suffered, some card issuers are raising interest rates, while others are cutting back offers to less creditworthy customers or lowering credit limits, the Associated Press reported yesterday. James Chessen, chief economist with the American Bankers Association trade group in Washington, D.C., said of lenders, “We’ve also heard they’re taking a more careful look at people with less-than-stellar credit. There’s the feeling that the risk may have been underpriced in the past.” Because credit cards have not seen substantial increases in delinquencies, “we haven’t seen deterioration in the performance in credit card asset-backed securities,” said Cynthia Ullrich, a senior director in Fitch Ratings asset-backed securities group. Still, Wall Street analysts said that investors concerned about mortgage problems have demanded a slightly higher return on securities backed by credit card receivables in recent weeks to make up for a higher perceived risk.