Will Debt Relief Help Your Financial Future?

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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 debt data page tracks Americans' credit card utilize monthly. We update this page frequently, analyzing just how much debt customers hold, how often they bring balances from month to month, how often they pay their charge card costs late and other essential trends.

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While charge 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 financial obligation boost in Q1 remained 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 decline, charge card balances have actually increased by $482 billion because Q1 2021, when credit card debt bottomed out at $770 billion throughout the pandemic.

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

Finding 2026 Financial Hardship Help

Credit card debt 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. 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 greatest typical 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 3rd quarter of 2025 and more than 410,000 in Q3 2024.

Joint accounts were divided in half to show shared obligation between the account holders. LendingTree analysts evaluated anonymized credit report data from Q3 2025 for more than 400,000 LendingTree users to compute these averages and develop 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 at least $9,000. Connecticut leads at $9,778, ahead of New Jersey ($ 9,748) and Maryland ($ 9,630). The six 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 analyzed.

Effective Financial Management for Struggling Families

Three 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 largest year-over-year decrease in financial obligation, with its residents' debt falling 10.3% from $6,543 to $5,871. In all, seven states saw charge card balances decrease in the previous year.

Less than half of adult credit cardholders (45%) brought a balance on a credit card for at least one month in the previous year, according to a May 2026 Federal Reserve study using 2025 information. Paying a credit card balance in full each month is the most efficient way to avoid interest charges and keep financial obligation from building up.

For all credit cards, the average APR in Q2 2026 was 20.94%. For cards accruing interest, the average in Q2 2026 was 22.15%. For brand-new charge card provides, the average is 23.79%. Typical APR, current card accounts: 20.94% Typical APR, accounts that accrue interest: 22.15% Typical APR, brand-new credit card provides: 23.79% The Federal Reserve's G. 19 consumer credit report revealed that the average APRs for cards accumulating 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 face greater rates than the averages for existing accounts. The current LendingTree information on charge card APRs shows that the typical APR with a new charge card offer is 23.79%, with the typical card offering an APR series of 20.18% to 27.41%.

When the Fed raises or reduces 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. Simply 2.92% of Americans' outstanding credit card balances were at least 30 days overdue 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.