Support for Struggling Consumers in 2026

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Read our editorial standards here. Americans have a record amount of credit card financial obligation $1.252 trillion, to be specific. This credit card financial obligation stats page tracks Americans' charge card use monthly. We update this page routinely, analyzing how much financial obligation customers hold, how frequently they carry balances from month to month, how often they pay their charge card expenses late and other key trends.

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

Americans' charge card debt is $325 billion greater than the pre-pandemic record embeded in Q4 2019, when balances stood at $927 billion. (That's a 35% increase.) Charge card balances have actually traditionally rebounded after first-quarter decreases, though future loaning patterns will depend upon elements consisting of rate of interest, inflation and more comprehensive financial conditions.

Finding 2026 Financial Hardship Help

Credit card financial obligation increased steadily 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, credit card balances plunged once again from $927 billion in Q4 2019 to $770 billion in Q1 2021.

Credit cardholders in Connecticut have the highest typical credit card financial obligation 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 3rd quarter of 2025 and more than 410,000 in Q3 2024.

Joint accounts were divided in half to reflect shared obligation in between the account holders. LendingTree analysts evaluated anonymized credit report information from Q3 2025 for more than 400,000 LendingTree users to determine these averages and develop a list of states with the most financial obligation. The analysis was likewise compared to Q3 2024 data from more than 410,000 reports.

Eleven states had average balances of a minimum of $9,000. Connecticut leads at $9,778, ahead of New Jersey ($ 9,748) and Maryland ($ 9,630). The six states with the least expensive 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 financial obligation in the duration analyzed.

Can Debt Relief Help Your Credit Future?

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

Less than half of adult credit cardholders (45%) carried a balance on a credit card for a minimum of one month in the past year, according to a May 2026 Federal Reserve research study using 2025 data. Paying a charge card balance completely every month is the most reliable method to avoid interest charges and keep debt from accumulating.

For all credit cards, the typical APR in Q2 2026 was 20.94%. For cards accumulating interest, the average in Q2 2026 was 22.15%. For new charge card uses, the average is 23.79%. Average APR, existing card accounts: 20.94% Typical APR, accounts that accumulate interest: 22.15% Average APR, new credit card offers: 23.79% The Federal Reserve's G. 19 consumer credit report revealed that the average APRs for cards accruing interest increased to 22.15% in Q2 2026, up from 21.52% in Q1 2026.

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Consumers opening a new charge card account may face greater rates than the averages for existing accounts. The most recent LendingTree data on charge card APRs reveals that the average APR with a new credit card deal is 23.79%, with the typical card offering an APR variety of 20.18% to 27.41%.

When the Fed raises or decreases rates, the majority of credit card APRs in the U.S.No matter when the Fed acts next, any movement is likely to be small, meaning credit card APRs would likely remain elevated by historical standards. Just 2.92% of Americans' impressive credit card balances were at least 30 days delinquent in the very first quarter of 2026., the 30-day delinquency rate the share of outstanding credit card balances that were at least 30 days past due dipped to 2.92% in the first quarter of 2026, the seventh straight quarterly reduction.