Support for Struggling Households in 2026

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Read our editorial standards here. Americans have a record amount of charge card debt $1.252 trillion, to be specific. This charge card debt stats page tracks Americans' charge card use every month. We upgrade this page regularly, examining just how much financial obligation consumers hold, how typically they carry balances from month to month, how frequently they pay their credit card expenses late and other crucial patterns.

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While credit card financial obligation tends to rise year over year, it usually falls from Q4 of one year to Q1 of the next. Even with this quarter's decline, credit card balances have risen by $482 billion because Q1 2021, when credit card debt bottomed out at $770 billion throughout the pandemic.

Americans' credit card debt is $325 billion higher than the pre-pandemic record set in Q4 2019, when balances stood at $927 billion. (That's a 35% boost.) Credit card balances have traditionally rebounded after first-quarter declines, though future borrowing trends will depend upon factors including rates of interest, inflation and more comprehensive economic conditions.

How to Slash Credit Card Debt in 2026

Credit card financial obligation increased progressively till the monetary crisis, then declined from $866 billion in Q4 2008 to $660 billion in Q1 2013 before resuming its upward trajectory. Then, when the pandemic took hold in 2020, charge card balances plunged again from $927 billion in Q4 2019 to $770 billion in Q1 2021.

Credit cardholders in Connecticut have the greatest average charge card debt of any state, according to LendingTree data, while those in Mississippi have the most affordable. Source: LendingTree analysis of the anonymized credit reports of more than 400,000 LendingTree users in the third quarter of 2025 and more than 410,000 in Q3 2024.

Joint accounts were divided in half to reflect shared duty in between the account holders. LendingTree analysts reviewed anonymized credit report data from Q3 2025 for more than 400,000 LendingTree users to calculate these averages and create a list of states with the most debt. The analysis was also compared with Q3 2024 data from more than 410,000 reports.

Eleven states had typical balances of a minimum of $9,000. Connecticut leads at $9,778, ahead of New Jersey ($ 9,748) and Maryland ($ 9,630). The 6 states with the most affordable balances are in the South. Mississippi's balance is $4,887, lower than Arkansas ($ 5,259) and West Virginia ($ 5,336). Washington has the fastest-growing card debt in the period examined.

Top-Rated 2026 Debt Relief Solutions for Families

3 other states saw double-digit increases, including South Dakota (up 11.7%), Nebraska (up 11.3%) and Wisconsin (up 10.2%). New Mexico saw the biggest year-over-year decrease in debt, with its locals' financial obligation falling 10.3% from $6,543 to $5,871. In all, seven states saw charge card balances reduce in the past year.

Fewer than half of adult credit cardholders (45%) brought a balance on a credit card for a minimum of one month in the previous year, according to a May 2026 Federal Reserve research study utilizing 2025 information. Paying a charge card balance in full monthly is the most efficient way to prevent interest charges and keep financial obligation from building up.

For cards accumulating interest, the average in Q2 2026 was 22.15%. For new credit card uses, the average is 23.79%.

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Customers opening a new charge card account may deal with higher rates than the averages for existing accounts. The current LendingTree data on charge card APRs shows that the average APR with a brand-new credit card offer is 23.79%, with the average card using an APR range of 20.18% to 27.41%.

The 23.79% average was unchanged for the second straight month and 3rd in four. It's the very first time since LendingTree started tracking card rates month-to-month that they went the same in back-to-back months. That stability is most likely the outcome of the Fed leaving rates the same throughout 2026. When the Fed raises or decreases rates, the majority of charge card APRs in the U.S.No matter when the Fed acts next, any movement is likely to be little, implying charge card APRs would likely stay elevated by historical requirements. And as the chart listed below programs, APRs can differ significantly by card type. Source: LendingTree evaluation of openly available terms for about 220 U.S.Obviously, your finest move is to make those rate of interest a moot point by paying your card financial obligation in full, however that's often simpler said than done. Just 2.92% of Americans' outstanding charge card balances were at least 1 month overdue in the first quarter of 2026. According to the latest delinquency information from the Fed, the 30-day delinquency rate the share of outstanding credit card balances that were at least one month overdue dipped to 2.92% in the first quarter of 2026, the seventh straight quarterly decrease.