Credit card statistics & debt statistics

This page contains credit card statistics -- including statistics on credit card debt, credit card delinquencies. Compiled by the Self Logix staff. Statistics on this page will be updated regularly as we receive new or updated credit card data.  Some data may appear multiple times on the page because the information is applicable in multiple categories.

• Average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: $15,788
• Total U.S. consumer unsecured debt: $2.45 trillion, as of March 2010 (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit, May 2010)
• Total credit cards in circulation in U.S: 576.4 million, as of yearend 2009 (Source: Nilson Report, February 2010)
• Total debit cards in circulation in U.S: 507 million, as of yearend 2009 (Source: Nilson Report, February 2010)
• Average number of credit cards held by cardholders: 3.5, as of yearend 2008 (Source: "The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010)
• Average APR on new credit card offer: 14.10 percent (Source: CreditCards.com Weekly Rate Report, May 2010.)
• Average APR on credit card with a balance on it: 14.67 percent, as of February, 2010 (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit, May 2010)
• Total U.S. revolving debt (98 percent of which is made up of credit card debt): $852.6 billion, as of March 2010 (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit, March 2010)
• U.S. credit card 60-day delinquency rate: 4.27 percent. (Source: Fitch Ratings, April 2010)
• U.S. credit card default rate: 13.01 percent. (Source: Fitch Ratings, April 2010)

Delinquency

• U.S. credit card 60-day delinquency rate: 4.27 percent. (Source: Fitch Ratings, April 2010)
• According to Fitch Ratings, the number of cardholders 60 or more days late on payments fell in January of 2010 to 4.50 percent. That number is flat year-to-year. Those 30 days late declined to 5.72 percent and is down 5 percent year-to-year. (Source: Associated Press, March 2010)
• According to Fitch Ratings, the number of credit card defaults hit 11.37 percent, the highest level since a record 11.52 percent in September 2009. (Source: Associated Press, March 2010)
• In the last 12 months, 15 percent of American adults, or nearly 34 million people, have been late making a credit card payment and 8 percent (18 million people) have missed a payment entirely. (Source: National Foundation for Credit Counseling, 2009 Financial Literacy Survey, April 2009)
• 26 percent of Americans, or more than 58 million adults, admit to not paying all of their bills on time. Among African-Americans, this number is at 51 percent.  (Source: National Foundation for Credit Counseling, 2009 Financial Literacy Survey, April 2009)
• Penalty fees from credit cards will add up to about $20.5 billion in 2009, according to R. K. Hammer, a consultant to the credit card industry. (Source: New York Times, September 2009)
• Only eight percent of cards with penalty rate conditions offered to restore the original rate terms when payments are made on-time, usually after 12 months. (Source: Pew Safe Credit Cards Project, March 2009)
• 72 percent of cards included offers of low promotional rates which  issuers could revoke after a single late payment. (Source: Pew Safe Credit Cards Project, March 2009)
• From 1989 to 2004, the percentage of cardholders incurring fees due to late payments of 60 days or more increased from 4.8 percent to 8.0 percent. (Source: Demos.org, "Borrowing To Make Ends Meet," November 2007)
• One-fourth of the students surveyed in US PIRG's 2008 Campus Credit Card Trap report said that they have paid a late fee, and 15 percent have paid an "over the limit" fee. (Source: U.S. PIRG, "Campus Credit Card Trap")
• When finances are tight, 59 percent of people would pay their credit card bills last. A majority -- 52 percent -- would pay the mortgage first and 38 percent say they would pay for utilities before paying other obligations. (Source: CreditCards.com survey, December 2008)
• On average, today's consumers are paying their bills on time, with less than half of all consumers have ever been reported as 30 or more days late on a payment. Only three out of 10 have ever been 60 or more days overdue on any credit obligation. Seventy-seven percent of all consumers have never had a loan or account that was 90+ days overdue, and fewer than 20 percent have ever had a loan or account closed by the lender due to default . (Source: myfico.com)

Total debt

• Total U.S. revolving debt (98 percent of which is made up of credit card debt): $852.6 billion, as of March 2010 (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit, March 2010)
• Total U.S. consumer unsecured debt: $2.45 trillion, as of March 2010 (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit, May 2010)
• Average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: $16,007*
• Average total debt in 2009 (including credit cards, mortgage, home equity, student loans and more) for U.S. households with credit card debt: $54,000. (That's down from $93,850 in 2008.)
• Average total debt in 2009 (including credit cards, mortgage, home equity, student loans and more) for all U.S. households: $16,046. (That's down from $35,245 in 2008.)
• Total U.S. consumer debt (which includes credit card debt and noncredit-card debt but not mortgage debt) reached $2.45 trillion at the end of 2009, down sharply from $2.56 trillion at the end of 2008. (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report, March 2010)
• Total U.S. consumer revolving debt fell to $866 billion at the end of 2009, down from $958 billion at the end of 2008. About 98 percent of that debt was credit card debt. (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report, March 2010)
• The mean, or average, unpaid credit card balance last month was $3,389. The median is $90. (Source: "The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010)
• About 56 percent of consumers carried an unpaid balance in the past 12 months. (Source: "The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010)
• About 45 percent of consumers said their unpaid credit card balance had gotten "lower" or "much lower" in the past 12 months. Only 26 percent said it had gotten "higher" or "much higher." (Source: "The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010)
• Slightly more than half of Americans -- 51 percent -- said that in the past 12 months, they carried over a balance and was charged interest on a credit card. (Source: "Financial Capability in the United States," FINRA Investor Education Foundation, December 2009)
• Total U.S. credit card outstanding through yearend 2009: $772.19 billion (Was $862.4 billion); By credit card company: Visa - $366.05 billion (Was $405.80 billion); MasterCard - $267.57 billion (Was $305.22 billion); American Express - $86.06 billion (Was $96.30 billion); Discover $52.51 billion (Was $55.08 billion); (Source: Nilson Report, February 2010)
• At the end of 2008, Americans' credit card debt reached $972.73 billion, up 1.12 percent from 2007. That number includes both general purpose credit cards and private label credit cards that aren't owned by a bank. (Source: Nilson Report, April 2009)
• Average credit card debt per household -- regardless of whether they have a credit card or not -- was $8,329 at the end of 2008. (Source: Nilson Report, April 2009)
• The average outstanding credit card debt for households that have a credit card was $10,679 at the end of 2008. One year earlier, that average was $10,637. (Source: Nilson Report, April 2009)
• The average balance per open credit card -- including both retail and bank cards -- was $1,157 at the end of 2008. That's up from $1,033 at the end of 2006, a growth of nearly 11 percent in two years. (Source: Experian marketing insight snapshot, March 2009)
• As of March 2009, U.S. revolving consumer debt, made up almost entirely of credit card debt, was about $950 Billion. In the fourth quarter of 2008, 13.9 percent of consumer disposable income went to service this debt. (Source: U.S. Congress' Joint Economic Committee, "Vicious Cycle: How Unfair Credit Card Company Practices Are Squeezing Consumers and Undermining the Recovery," May 2009)
• "As household wealth has declined in the downturn, more American families are facing financial distress due to high debt burdens. In 2007, before the recession began, 14.7 percent of U.S. families had debt exceeding 40 percent of their income." (Source: U.S. Congress' Joint Economic Committee, "Vicious Cycle: How Unfair Credit Card Company Practices Are Squeezing Consumers and Undermining the Recovery," May 2009)
• In 2007, the average balance for those carrying a balance rose 30.4 percent, to $7,300. Meanwhile, the median balance -- meaning half owe more and half owe less -- for those carrying a balance rose 25.0 percent, to $3,000. These increases followed slower changes over the preceding three years, when the median increased 9.1 percent and the average climbed 16.7 percent. (Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, February 2009)
• In the fourth quarter of 2008, consumers over 60 had an average balance of $763 per open bankcard or retail accounts. A year before, that balance was $746. The year before that, it was $735 -- meaning the average has jumped about 4 percent in 2 years. (Source: Experian marketing insight snapshot, March 2009)
• In 2007, credit card balances made up 3.5 percent of the total debt for all U.S. families, including those with and without credit card debt. (Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, February 2009)
• In 2007, fewer than half of U.S. families (46.1 percent) held credit card debt. That's virtually unchanged from 2004's 46.2 percent number. (Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, February 2009)
• Undergraduates are carrying record-high credit card balances. The average (mean) balance grew to $3,173, the highest in the years the study has been conducted. Median debt grew from 2004’s $946 to $1,645. Twenty-one percent of undergraduates had balances of between $3,000 and $7,000, also up from the last study. (Source: Sallie Mae, "How Undergraduate Students Use Credit Cards," April 2009)
• Balances on bank cards accounted for 87.1 percent of outstanding credit card balances in 2007, up from 84.9 percent in 2004. (Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, February 2009)
• Of the 73.0 percent of families with credit cards in 2007, only 60.3 percent had a balance at the time of the interview; in 2004, 74.9 percent had cards, and 58.0 percent of these families had an outstanding balance on them. (Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, February 2009)
• "Total bankcard debt per bankcard borrower" is $5,710. This was alternately described as the total balance of bank-issued credit cards per consumer. (Source: TransUnion, December 2008)
• The average American with a credit file is responsible for $16,635 in debt, excluding mortgages, according to Experian. (Source: U.S. News and World Report, "The End of Credit Card Consumerism," August 2008)
• Among the 35 percent of college students with credit cards that do not pay their balances in full every month, the average balance is $452. This is down 19 percent from 2007. Moreover, this balance is approximately one-third the size of the average balance for active nonstudent young adult accounts and one-fourth the size of active accounts for older adults. (Source: Student Monitor annual financial services study, 2008)
• As of 2007, the majority of U.S. households had no credit card debt. (Source: Federal Reserve Board survey of consumer finances, February 2009)
• When you take a snapshot of how much an individual bank cardholder has in debt on a given day, and ignore whether that debt will be paid off in the grace period, Alaska is the state whose cardholders have the highest debt: $7,827. Alaska is followed by Nevada at $6,636 and Tennessee at $6,568. At the other end of the scale, the states whose citizens carry the lowest card debt at a given moment are Iowa ($4,277), North Dakota ($4,403) and West Virginia ($4,517). (Source: TransUnion, December 2008)
• About 40 percent of credit cardholders carry a balance of less than $1,000. About 15 percent are far less conservative in their use of credit cards and have total card balances in excess of $10,000. When you look at the total of all credit obligations combined (except mortgage loans), 48 percent of consumers carry less than $5,000 of debt. This includes all credit cards, lines of credit and loans -- everything but mortgages. Nearly 37 percent carry more than $10,000 of nonmortgage debt as reported to the credit bureaus. (Source: myfico.com)
• The typical consumer has access to approximately $19,000 on all credit cards combined. More than half of all people with credit cards are using less than 30 percent of their total credit card limit. Just over one in seven is using 80 percent or more of their credit card limit. (Source: myfico.com)
• The average college graduate has nearly $20,000 in debt; average credit card debt has increased 47 percent between 1989 and 2004 for 25-to 34-year-olds and 11 percent for 18-to 24-year-olds. Nearly one in five 18-to 24-year-olds is in "debt hardship," up from 12 percent in 1989. (Source: Demos.org, "The Economic State of Young America," May 2008)
• More than 90 percent of survey respondents believe they had the same amount -- or less -- debt as the average American. (Source: CreditCards.com survey, June 2007)
• Miami residents are the biggest over spenders, one study says. The 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas were ranked in terms of percent of median yearly household income owed to credit card companies and Miami residents owed 22.61 percent. Tampa (17.1 percent) and Los Angeles (16.81 percent) came in second and third, respectively. (Source: Forbes.com, Equifax and US Census Bureau, April 2009)

Credit card debt

• Average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: $15,788*
• 76 percent of undergraduates have credit cards, and the average undergrad has $2,200 in credit card. Additionally, they will amass almost $20,000 in student debt. (Source: Nellie Mae, "Undergraduate Students and Credit Cards in 2004: An Analysis of Usage Rates and Trends")
• Total U.S. consumer revolving debt fell to $866 billion at the end of 2009, down from $958 billion at the end of 2008. About 98 percent of that debt was credit card debt. (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report, March 2010)
• The mean, or average, unpaid credit card balance last month was $3,389. The median is $90. (Source: "The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010)
• About 45 percent of consumers said their unpaid credit card balance had gotten "lower" or "much lower" in the past 12 months. Only 26 percent said it had gotten "higher" or "much higher." (Source: "The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010)
• Total U.S. credit card out standings through yearend 2009: $772.19 billion (Was $862.4 billion); By credit card company: Visa - $366.05 billion (Was $405.80 billion); MasterCard - $267.57 billion (Was $305.22 billion); American Express - $86.06 billion (Was $96.30 billion); Discover $52.51 billion (Was $55.08 billion); (Source: Nilson Report, February 2010)
• At the end of 2008, Americans' credit card debt reached $972.73 billion, up 1.12 percent from 2007. That number includes both general purpose credit cards and private label credit cards that aren't owned by a bank. (Source: Nilson Report, April 2009)
• Average credit card debt per household -- regardless of whether they have a credit card or not -- was $8,329 at the end of 2008. (Source: Nilson Report, April 2009)
• The average outstanding credit card debt for households that have a credit card was $10,679 at the end of 2008. One year earlier, that average was $10,637. (Source: Nilson Report, April 2009)
• The average balance per open credit card -- including both retail and bank cards -- was $1,157 at the end of 2008. That's up from $1,033 at the end of 2006, a growth of nearly 11 percent in two years. (Source: Experian marketing insight snapshot, March 2009)
• As of March 2009, U.S. revolving consumer debt, made up almost entirely of credit card debt, was about $950 Billion. In the fourth quarter of 2008, 13.9 percent of consumer disposable income went to service this debt. (Source: U.S. Congress' Joint Economic Committee, "Vicious Cycle: How Unfair Credit Card Company Practices Are Squeezing Consumers and Undermining the Recovery," May 2009)
• In 2007, credit card balances made up 3.5 percent of the total debt for all U.S. families, including those with and without credit card debt. (Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, February 2009)
• In 2007, fewer than half of U.S. families (46.1 percent) held credit card debt. That's virtually unchanged from 2004's 46.2 percent number. (Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, February 2009)
• Undergraduates are carrying record-high credit card balances. The average (mean) balance grew to $3,173, the highest in the years the study has been conducted. Median debt grew from 2004’s $946 to $1,645. Twenty-one percent of undergraduates had balances of between $3,000 and $7,000, also up from the last study. (Source: Sallie Mae, "How Undergraduate Students Use Credit Cards," April 2009)
• Of the 73.0 percent of families with credit cards in 2007, only 60.3 percent had a balance at the time of the interview; in 2004, 74.9 percent had cards, and 58.0 percent of these families had an outstanding balance on them. (Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, February 2009)
• Among the 35 percent of college students with credit cards that do not pay their balances in full every month, the average balance is $452. This is down 19 percent from 2007. Moreover, this balance is approximately one-third the size of the average balance for active nonstudent young adult accounts and one-fourth the size of active accounts for older adults. (Source: Student Monitor annual financial services study, 2008)
• As of 2007, the majority of U.S. households had no credit card debt. (Source: Federal Reserve Board survey of consumer finances, February 2009)
• About 40 percent of credit cardholders carry a balance of less than $1,000. About 15 percent are far less conservative in their use of credit cards and have total card balances in excess of $10,000. When you look at the total of all credit obligations combined (except mortgage loans), 48 percent of consumers carry less than $5,000 of debt. This includes all credit cards, lines of credit and loans -- everything but mortgages. Nearly 37 percent carry more than $10,000 of nonmortgage debt as reported to the credit bureaus. (Source: myfico.com)
• The typical consumer has access to approximately $19,000 on all credit cards combined. More than half of all people with credit cards are using less than 30 percent of their total credit card limit. Just over one in seven is using 80 percent or more of their credit card limit. (Source: myfico.com)