Support for Over-Leveraged Households in 2026

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Read our editorial guidelines here. Americans have a record amount of charge card financial obligation $1.252 trillion, to be specific. This credit card financial obligation stats page tracks Americans' charge card utilize each month. We upgrade this page routinely, examining just how much financial obligation consumers hold, how typically they carry balances from month to month, how regularly they pay their charge card expenses late and other essential trends.

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While charge card financial obligation 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 boost in Q1 remained in 2001. (The only time it didn't fall in Q1 ever since was 2023, when it stayed unchanged.) Even with this quarter's reduction, charge card balances have actually risen by $482 billion since Q1 2021, when charge card financial obligation bottomed out at $770 billion throughout the pandemic.

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

How to Negotiate Credit Card Balances in 2026

Credit card financial obligation rose steadily 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 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 information, while those in Mississippi have the lowest. 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 show shared duty in between the account holders. LendingTree experts reviewed anonymized credit report data from Q3 2025 for more than 400,000 LendingTree users to calculate these averages and produce a list of states with the most debt. The analysis was likewise compared to Q3 2024 information 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 remain 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.

Expert 2026 Debt Relief Solutions for Families

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 biggest year-over-year decline 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.

Less than half of adult credit cardholders (45%) carried a balance on a credit card for a minimum of one month in the previous year, according to a May 2026 Federal Reserve study utilizing 2025 data. Paying a credit card balance in complete each month is the most efficient method 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 offers, the average is 23.79%.

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

When the Fed raises or decreases rates, most 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 exceptional 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.