15 Shocking Credit Card Debt & Usage Statistics

American consumers have a truly shocking amount of credit card debt.

When I began studying this data in 2020, card users owed almost $900 billion. At the time, that amount struck me as enormous, yet I didn’t consider it “shocking.”

Fast-forward four years, and now, well, I am truly shocked as consumer card balances have ballooned to $1.166 trillion.

Why does this boatload of card debt matter? Broadly speaking, the sharp rise shows how important credit card debt is in the U.S. economy and how dependent consumers are on their cards and credit lines.

Would that economic activity of almost $1.17 trillion have occurred without consumer credit cards? It’s impossible to say for sure, but there’s no doubt that cards make spending easier and more convenient, consumer spending is a crucial component of economic activity, and credit cards are big business.

Not shocked by $1.17 trillion of card debt? Well, read on for some of the latest statistics that could surprise or, yes, even shock you.

Quick question: How much credit, in total, do you have on all your cards?

My answer: I don’t know. I have three cards, and no idea what the limits for each are. I’ve never charged enough on any of them to need to know.

In mid-2020, the New York Federal Reserve reported that U.S. consumers could potentially borrow about $3.93 trillion if they all maxed out all their cards. By the third quarter of 2024, that total went up to a shocking $4.98 trillion, an increase of about $1 trillion.¹

Here’s a look at how that available credit has grown over the years:

With about 337.5 million people in the U.S., $4.98 trillion of available card credit is equivalent to about $14,755 per person. Since the total population includes people who are too young to get credit or don’t have any credit cards, the per-person averages for those who have one or more cards are actually higher. In mid-2020, the average was about $11,873 per person.

Despite having a lot of card debt, consumers also still had a lot of card credit available. How much? More than $3.8 trillion.

A Federal Reserve report, last updated May 31, 2024, found that 39% of U.S. adults carried a card balance from month to month.² When adults who don’t have at least one card were excluded, that proportion jumped to 47% — or almost half of all card users.

People with a modest $25,000 to $50,000 of household income were most likely to carry a balance, while those with household income of less than $25,000 or more than $50,000 were less likely. Among cardholders whose household income topped $100,000, only 37% carried a balance.

To pay off your credit card debt, start with an honest assessment of your credit card bill(s) and how much you owe. Make a list of all your cards, card balances, rates, and minimum monthly payments. If your credit card balance feels scary, don’t panic. You’ve taken the first step to pay it, and for many people, this first step is the hardest.

Here is a look at the data:

The next step is to decide which approach you want to use to pay your card debt. The snowball method prioritizes paying off your smallest balance first and then the next smallest and so on. The avalanche method prioritizes paying off your highest-rate balance first and then the next highest and so on.

You may pay more in credit card interest with the snowball approach, but you’ll get a series of quicker wins that could help you stay motivated. With the avalanche approach, you may not get a quick win, but you’ll likely pay less interest overall. You can also combine the two methods or alternate between them to balance the pros and cons of each approach.

A balance transfer card with a 0% introductory rate offer may help you manage your credit card debt by giving you some temporary relief from finance charges for your revolving debt. 

Most balance transfers involve fees, and the introductory rate may not apply to new purchases on the card. Be sure to read the disclosures before you apply.

U.S. states may be rivals for the best weather, the best cuisine, or the best sports teams, and it’s all in good fun. But if there’s one trophy you don’t want your state to win, it’s the one for the highest amount of credit card debt per person.

The “winner” for the third quarter of 2024 was Connecticut, where the average per-person card debt was $9,323, according to LendingTree.³

Other localities where the average topped $9,000 per person were: Washington, D.C. ($9,209), California ($9,191), New Jersey ($9,112), Florida ($9,094), and Alaska ($9,040).

The state with the lowest average card debt per person was Mississippi, with an average of $4,918.

Other states at the low end were: Kentucky ($5,266), Arkansas ($5,305), West Virginia ($5,497), Louisiana ($5,529), Tennessee ($5,727), Alabama ($5,765), and Indiana ($5,876).

In August 2024, the average annual percentage rate (APR) for card accounts overall was 21.76%, according to the Federal Reserve’s Consumer Credit statistical release.⁴

That APR may seem low, and in one sense, it is. For the same month, the average APR for accounts on which consumers paid finance charges was 1.6% higher at 23.37%.

Both averages were significantly lower when I originally found this data in May 2020. Back then, the average APR for card accounts overall was 15.09%. The average for accounts on which consumers paid finance charges was 16.61%.

In 2012, the average APR for card accounts overall was just 12.09%, while the average for accounts on which consumers paid finance charges was 13.66%.

Today’s higher APRs mean that if you carry a balance, it will cost you a lot more in finance charges on a percentage basis.

You may be able to lower your cost by getting a balance transfer card with a 0% introductory APR. Two other ways to get a lower card APR are to call your card issuer and ask for a lower rate, or apply for another card with a lower APR.

You may have to improve your credit score to qualify for the lowest APR cards.

In the third quarter of 2023, U.S. consumers had 3.9 active credit cards per person, on average.⁵

That doesn’t mean you should have four cards. In fact, the right number for you may not match the average. Some consumers are fine with only one card. Other people have as many as 40 cards — or even more. I have three cards: one with cash back rewards that I use regularly, one with hotel point rewards that I use occasionally, and one that I’ve had for decades that I put aside in my emergency “go” kit.

You should have and use at least one card to build a credit profile, which you may need to apply for other types of credit, apply for a job, rent a home or apartment, or open utility accounts or a cellphone account.

If you want to earn a variety of card rewards, it may make sense for you to have more than one credit card.

Experian data also showed that Gen Z had the lowest average number of cards, with just two per person.⁵ Millennials had an average of 3.5 cards each, while Gen Xers and Boomers averaged 4.3 cards. The average for the Silent Generation was 3.5 cards.

Most people should have at least one credit card to establish a credit profile, shop online, open a cellphone account, or make hotel or airline reservations. But many people — from all different generations — like to have more to take advantage of rewards programs and other perks and benefits.

More than 98 million people, or approximately 37% of the U.S. population, encountered a bank chatbot online, according to the 2023 report, “Chatbots in consumer finance,” from the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).⁶

Chatbots saved banks $8 billion per year, or about $0.70 for each interaction, compared with the cost of a live person, the report said. Given that, it’s no wonder that all ten of the country’s top-10 largest commercial banks use chatbots to interact with their customers.

Chatbots are available 24/7, a plus for consumers, but they come with a number of negatives, such as wasted time, frustration, inaccurate information, and paying additional fees. Chatbots may also raise concerns about privacy and security.

The CFPB has a database of credit card agreements from hundreds of card issuers, including national and state banks, and credit unions.⁷

Your card agreement explains the terms and conditions of your account. The agreement must disclose the APR for the card, the annual fee (many cards don’t charge one), how your monthly minimum payment is calculated, and the process to resolve card disputes.

Your card issuer is required by federal law to give you a copy of your agreement if you ask for it. Searching the CFPB database may be faster and easier. Your card’s name should be printed on your card and shown on your monthly statement.

Although there are thousands of credit cards on the market, nearly all of them come from one of four card networks: Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express (Amex).⁸

Discover and Amex issue all of their own cards directly to consumers. Visa and Mastercard issue their cards through banks and credit unions.

Cards may also be co-branded by companies or organizations that market and distribute those cards and provide perks, rewards, or brand affinity warm-fuzzies to people who get those cards. Examples include airline, hotel, big box, and sports team-branded cards.

Consumers opened fewer new credit card accounts in the first quarter of 2024, according to a report from TransUnion.⁹ The total was down from 2022 and 2023.

Given the popularity of card rewards, it may seem that many of those new accounts would come with a rewards program. In fact, only three-fourths of newly issued cards had that feature in 2022, according to the 2023 CFPB report, The Consumer Credit Card Market.¹⁰ This report is published every two years, so the next update should be in 2025.

The gap between super-prime and subprime credit scores was evident in the percentages of new accounts for each group that came with a rewards program. For cardholders with super-prime scores, 85% of new accounts had rewards. For cardholders with subprime scores, only about half of new accounts had this benefit.

Introductory, welcome, or signup bonuses that issuers offer some consumers who open new accounts are an important opportunity for issuers to attract new customers and allow consumers to rack up additional rewards.¹⁰

In 2022, these bonuses made up 9.1% of the rewards consumers earned. That was up from 7.7% percent in 2021 and 5.3% in 2020.

In 2022, the average value of a welcome bonus was $326.

Card companies make money from fees as well as finance charges.

Annual fees were becoming more costly for consumers, in part because more cards offered more generous rewards, and those higher-rewards-value cards tended to involve higher annual fees.¹⁰

Card users with super-prime credit scores were charged annual fees of $129 on average for each account that they had with this type of fee, the CFPB reported.

Many good rewards cards don’t charge annual fees.

Cash isn’t dead, but credit cards have continued to gain ground as a preferred payment method in recent years, according to the 2024 Findings from the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve.¹¹

After credit and debit cards, which were used for 32% and 30% of payments, respectively, cash remained the third most popular choice, accounting for 16% of payments in 2023, the survey found.

Researchers identified four factors as contributors to the increased use of cards:

• Consumers continued to shift payments from in-person to online. In 2023, 22% of purchases and person-to-person payments were made online or remotely, a level that increased from 19% in 2022.
• More consumers said they preferred to use cards for in-person payments. Cards were perceived as convenient, widely accepted, and easy to use, especially for record keeping.
• Consumers made more payments at grocery and convenience stores, restaurants, gas stations, and general merchandise stores, and preferred to use cards at all of these locations.
• Consumers made more payments of less than $25 than in 2022. Historically, cash was used more often for these small-dollar transactions, but the 2023 data shows cash tied with debit cards as the most popular method for making purchases $25 and under.
• People aged 55 and older were more likely than younger people to use cash for some payments.

Balance transfer cards let you move some of your card debt from one card to another. This strategy may help you lower your finance charges. Many balance transfer cards offer an introductory 0% APR for a year or longer.

In 2022, consumers transferred $53 billion of card balances. Nearly all of these transfers were made by consumers with prime or better credit scores, according to the CFPB report. These consumers were more likely to be approved for balance-transfer offers.¹⁰

The average balance transfer fee declined slightly as a percentage of the amount transferred. In 2020, the average fee was 3%. In 2022, it was 2.8%.

The difference of .002% would be about $10 for a $5,000 balance transfer. For $53 billion in transfers, that small drop would have saved consumers about $106 million.

Cash advances made up about 2.3% of overall card balances, according to the 2023 CFPB report.¹⁰

A cash advance lets you get cash, rather than make a purchase, from your available credit on your card. Your card issuer may treat your transaction as an advance if you use your card to:

• Make an ATM withdrawal.
• Purchase foreign currency, traveler’s checks, gift cards, prepaid cards, convenience checks, or virtual currency.
• Get chips at a casino.
• Buy gold at a bank.
• Cover an overdraft on a linked savings or checking account.

In general, the maximum amount you can withdraw as a cash advance, or cash line, is 20% of your credit card limit, according to the CFPB report.

Cash advances typically involve upfront fees and interest begins to accrue as soon as the cash is advanced. Cash advances have no grace period, and the interest rate may be higher than those for purchases.

While there’s no one credit score that you need to achieve to get the best card offers, higher scores generally mean you’ll get more offers and be offered better terms, such as lower rates, fewer fees, and better rewards.

One thing these credit card debt statistics won’t tell you is which cards are the best cards for you. To figure that out, you’ll need to think about some personal statistics, such as your credit score, whether you carry a balance, where you usually use your cards, and whether you’re a student or you own a business.

With those parameters in mind, you’ll be able to shop for and compare cards to choose the ones you want.

^{1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/188170/consumer-credit-liabilities-of-us-households-since-1990/}

^{2. https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2024-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2023-banking-credit.htm}

^{3. https://www.lendingtree.com/credit-cards/study/credit-card-debt-statistics/}

^{4. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/current/g19.pdf}

^{5. https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/average-number-of-credit-cards-a-person-has/}

^{6. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/research-reports/chatbots-in-consumer-finance/chatbots-in-consumer-finance/}

^{7. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/credit-cards/agreements/}

^{8. https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-24132/p-15}

^{9. https://newsroom.transunion.com/q2-2024-ciir/}

^{10. https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2023.pdf}

^{11. https://www.frbservices.org/news/research/2024-findings-from-the-diary-of-consumer-payment-choice}