Comparing the Top 2026 Debt Relief Plans

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

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While credit 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 was in 2001. (The only time it didn't fall in Q1 given that then was 2023, when it remained unchanged.) Even with this quarter's decrease, credit card balances have risen by $482 billion since Q1 2021, when charge card debt bottomed out at $770 billion during 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% increase.) Credit card balances have actually traditionally rebounded after first-quarter declines, though future borrowing patterns will depend upon aspects including interest rates, inflation and wider financial conditions.

Relief for Struggling Consumers in 2026

Credit 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. Then, 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 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 with 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 are 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 financial obligation in the duration examined.

How to Get 2026 Financial Hardship Help

Three other states saw double-digit boosts, consisting of South Dakota (up 11.7%), Nebraska (up 11.3%) and Wisconsin (up 10.2%). Meanwhile, New Mexico saw the biggest year-over-year decline in debt, with its citizens' financial obligation falling 10.3% from $6,543 to $5,871. In all, 7 states saw credit card balances reduce in the past year.

Fewer than half of adult credit cardholders (45%) carried a balance on a charge card for at least one month in the past year, according to a May 2026 Federal Reserve research study utilizing 2025 data. Paying a charge card balance completely each month is the most reliable way to prevent interest charges and keep financial obligation from building up.

For cards accumulating interest, the average in Q2 2026 was 22.15%. For brand-new credit card offers, the average is 23.79%.

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Consumers opening a new credit card account might deal with greater rates than the averages for existing accounts. The current LendingTree data on credit card APRs shows that the average APR with a new credit card offer is 23.79%, with the typical card offering an APR series of 20.18% to 27.41%.

The 23.79% average was unchanged for the 2nd straight month and third in 4. It's the very first time because LendingTree started tracking card rates monthly that they went the same in back-to-back months. That stability is likely the outcome of the Fed leaving rates the same throughout 2026. When the Fed raises or decreases rates, a lot of credit card APRs in the U.S.No matter when the Fed acts next, any motion is most likely to be little, implying credit card APRs would likely stay elevated by historic standards. And as the chart listed below programs, APRs can vary considerably by card type. Source: LendingTree evaluation of openly offered conditions for about 220 U.S.Obviously, your best move is to make those interest rates a moot point by paying your card debt in full, however that's typically easier stated than done. Simply 2.92% of Americans' impressive charge card balances were at least 30 days overdue in the first quarter of 2026. According to the latest delinquency data from the Fed, the 30-day delinquency rate the share of outstanding charge card balances that were at least one month unpaid dipped to 2.92% in the very first quarter of 2026, the seventh straight quarterly decline.