Comprehensive Debt Consolidation Reviews for the New Year

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Read our editorial guidelines here. Americans have a record amount of credit card debt $1.252 trillion, to be exact. This charge card debt data page tracks Americans' charge card utilize each month. We update this page frequently, examining just how much debt consumers hold, how often they carry balances from month to month, how often they pay their charge card costs late and other essential patterns.

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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. Even with this quarter's decline, credit card balances have actually increased by $482 billion since Q1 2021, when credit card debt bottomed out at $770 billion throughout the pandemic.

Americans' credit card debt 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 declines, though future loaning patterns will depend upon elements consisting of interest rates, inflation and broader economic conditions.

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Charge card financial obligation increased progressively up until 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 typical charge card financial obligation 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 third quarter of 2025 and more than 410,000 in Q3 2024.

Joint accounts were divided in half to reflect shared duty 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 develop a list of states with the most debt. The analysis was likewise 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.

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3 other states saw double-digit boosts, including South Dakota (up 11.7%), Nebraska (up 11.3%) and Wisconsin (up 10.2%). Meanwhile, New Mexico saw the biggest year-over-year reduction in financial obligation, with its residents' financial obligation falling 10.3% from $6,543 to $5,871. In all, 7 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 past year, according to a May 2026 Federal Reserve study utilizing 2025 information. Paying a charge card balance completely each month is the most effective method to avoid interest charges and keep financial obligation from collecting.

For all charge card, the typical 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% Typical APR, accounts that accumulate interest: 22.15% Average APR, new charge card offers: 23.79% The Federal Reserve's G. 19 customer credit report revealed that the typical APRs for cards accruing interest increased to 22.15% in Q2 2026, up from 21.52% in Q1 2026.

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Customers opening a new credit card account may deal with higher rates than the averages for existing accounts. The newest LendingTree data on credit card APRs reveals that the average APR with a new charge card offer is 23.79%, with the average card offering an APR variety of 20.18% to 27.41%.

When the Fed raises or reduces rates, many 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 very 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 reduction.