Last year, it raised it by 26 per cent, duplicating the increase it had given me in 1990. My ceiling is now five times higher than it was in October 1988. I wish my income had spiralled so much and so effortlessly.

None of the last three increases were requested by me, and my card usage has not warranted the increase.

The credit card company has never asked me for any proof that my income has risen at all, let alone five-fold, in the past 55 months. Why is it so eager to give me credit I did not ask for and do not need? The reason is Mephistophelian.

The boost in my credit card ceiling is designed to tempt me into spending sprees that will boost the company's income.

It is also hoped that I will take as long as possible to pay off accumulated debts, at rates of interest significantly higher than those for a personal loan.

A random survey of friends' credit card ceiling adjustments indicates that all credit card companies are indulging in this self-serving super-inflationary practice, and ''giving'' unsolicited ceiling hoists of up to 100 per cent.

Does the Government need to curb the practice before too many Hongkongers build up dangerously high levels of personal indebtedness? Even if the credit card companies happily ignore the examples of other countries, can the Government afford to do so? North America and Britain have not yet recovered from similar orgies of credit.

They tempted consumers to plunge into oceans of debt, on the false assumption that jobs were secure and inflation would soon diminish the real value of their debts.

Is there a risk that Hongkong's economy might deteriorate in similar ways? It is assumed that the Government's monetary authority monitors local levels of credit and debt.

Is it concerned that credit card companies are inflating the local money supply, exacerbating expectations about inflation, and encouraging consumers to ignore the inevitable day of reckoning when the credit bubble bursts (here and in China) and interestrates rise? BARRY GIRLING Lantau