Seeking 2026 Financial Hardship Assistance

How Does LendingTree Get Paid? We are committed to providing precise material that helps you make notified money decisions.

Americans have a record quantity of credit card debt $1.252 trillion, to be specific. This credit card debt stats page tracks Americans' credit card utilize each month.

apfsc.org

While charge card debt tends to rise year over year, it normally falls from Q4 of one year to Q1 of the next. The last time we saw card debt increase in Q1 was in 2001. (The only time it didn't fall in Q1 given that then was 2023, when it stayed the same.) Even with this quarter's reduction, credit card balances have increased by $482 billion because Q1 2021, when credit card debt bottomed out at $770 billion during the pandemic.

Americans' credit card debt is $325 billion greater 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 decreases, though future loaning trends will depend on factors consisting of rates of interest, inflation and wider economic conditions.

Will Debt Relief Help Your Credit Future?

Credit card financial obligation rose gradually till the monetary crisis, then declined from $866 billion in Q4 2008 to $660 billion in Q1 2013 before resuming its upward trajectory. 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 average charge card debt of any state, according to LendingTree information, 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 reviewed anonymized credit report information from Q3 2025 for more than 400,000 LendingTree users to compute these averages and produce a list of states with the most financial obligation. The analysis was likewise compared with Q3 2024 data from more than 410,000 reports.

Eleven states had typical balances of at least $9,000. Washington has the fastest-growing card debt in the period examined.

Essential Debt Consolidation Analysis for 2026

Three other states saw double-digit boosts, including South Dakota (up 11.7%), Nebraska (up 11.3%) and Wisconsin (up 10.2%). On The Other Hand, New Mexico saw the largest year-over-year reduction in debt, with its residents' debt falling 10.3% from $6,543 to $5,871. In all, 7 states saw credit card balances decrease in the past year.

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

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

apfsc.org

Customers opening a brand-new charge card account might deal with higher rates than the averages for existing accounts. The newest LendingTree information on credit card APRs reveals that the average APR with a brand-new charge card deal is 23.79%, with the average card using an APR series of 20.18% to 27.41%.

The 23.79% average was the same for the 2nd straight month and 3rd in 4. It's the first time because LendingTree started tracking card rates month-to-month that they went the same in back-to-back months. That stability is likely the result of the Fed leaving rates unchanged throughout 2026. When the Fed raises or lowers rates, most credit card APRs in the U.S.Anytime the Fed acts next, any motion is most likely to be small, meaning credit card APRs would likely stay raised by historical requirements. And as the chart below programs, APRs can vary substantially by card type. Source: LendingTree evaluation of publicly available terms for about 220 U.S.Of course, your finest move is to make those rate of interest a moot point by paying your card debt in full, but that's often much easier said than done. Just 2.92% of Americans' exceptional credit card balances were at least thirty days overdue in the first quarter of 2026. According to the newest delinquency data from the Fed, the 30-day delinquency rate the share of exceptional charge card balances that were at least one month unpaid dipped to 2.92% in the first quarter of 2026, the seventh straight quarterly decrease.