Smart Financial Management for Over-Leveraged Families

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Read our editorial standards here. Americans have a record amount of credit card debt $1.252 trillion, to be precise. This credit card financial obligation stats page tracks Americans' charge card use every month. We upgrade this page regularly, taking a look at how much financial obligation customers hold, how often they bring balances from month to month, how regularly they pay their credit card bills late and other key trends.

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While credit card debt tends to increase year over year, it usually 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 because then was 2023, when it stayed unchanged.) Even with this quarter's reduction, credit card balances have actually risen by $482 billion because Q1 2021, when credit card debt bottomed out at $770 billion throughout 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% boost.) Credit card balances have historically rebounded after first-quarter decreases, though future loaning trends will depend on elements including rates of interest, inflation and wider economic conditions.

Analyzing the Best 2026 Debt Relief Plans

Credit card debt increased progressively up until the monetary crisis, then decreased 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 typical credit 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 third quarter of 2025 and more than 410,000 in Q3 2024.

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

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

Complete Debt Consolidation Reviews for the New Year

3 other states saw double-digit increases, consisting of South Dakota (up 11.7%), Nebraska (up 11.3%) and Wisconsin (up 10.2%). New Mexico saw the largest year-over-year decrease in debt, with its homeowners' debt falling 10.3% from $6,543 to $5,871. In all, 7 states saw credit card balances reduce in the previous year.

Fewer than half of adult credit cardholders (45%) brought a balance on a credit card for at least one month in the past year, according to a May 2026 Federal Reserve study utilizing 2025 data. Paying a charge card balance completely every month is the most effective way to prevent interest charges and keep debt from collecting.

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 new charge card uses, the average is 23.79%. Typical APR, existing card accounts: 20.94% Typical APR, accounts that accrue interest: 22.15% Average APR, new charge card provides: 23.79% The Federal Reserve's G. 19 customer credit report showed that the average APRs for cards accruing interest rose to 22.15% in Q2 2026, up from 21.52% in Q1 2026.

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Customers opening a brand-new charge card account may deal with greater rates than the averages for existing accounts. The most recent LendingTree information on charge card APRs shows that the average APR with a new charge card deal is 23.79%, with the average card providing an APR variety of 20.18% to 27.41%.

When the Fed raises or decreases rates, a lot 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' outstanding credit card balances were at least 30 days delinquent in the 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 very first quarter of 2026, the seventh straight quarterly decline.