How much does the average American owe on credit cards?
Sarah Martinez
Updated on February 11, 2026
On average, Americans carry $6,194 in credit card debt, according to the 2019 Experian Consumer Credit Review. And Alaskans have the highest credit card balance, on average $8,026.
Do credit cards charge daily?
The majority of credit card issuers compound interest on a daily basis. This means that your interest is added to your principal (original) balance at the end of every day.
How much do Americans pay in credit card interest annually?
So the average American has $6,194 in credit card debt at an average interest rate of 16.88%. A quick multiplication tells us that the average consumer is paying $1,045.55 annually just for the privilege of owing money to their creditors.
How much does the average American spend on credit card each year?
The average U.S. cardholder spends $753.80 each year in interest charges. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco made more discoveries in its 2019 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice report: Credit card usage has steadily increased from 2016 to 2018, rising from 18% to 23%.
How many credit card transactions are there in the US?
Credit Card Transactions in the U.S. There were 39.6 billion combined purchase transactions in the U.S. in 2019. This figure includes 31.2 billion purchase transactions from the top 50 issuers of Visa and Mastercard credit cards in the U.S. plus another 5.66 billion from American Express and 2.72 billion from Discover.
How many American Express cards are in circulation?
American Express credit card purchase volume from cards issued inside the U.S. grew 9.8% compared with 8.0% growth from cards issued outside the U.S. At the end of 2018, global brand credit, debit, and prepaid cards in circulation reached 13.19 billion, an increase of 10.4% from 2017.
What’s the percentage of credit cards that are past due?
Between 2019 and the end of 2020, the average percentage of accounts 90-180 days past due fell by 53% 5, according to the Experian 2020 Consumer Credit Review. The percentage of accounts 60-89 days past due decreased by 36% 5, and those 30-59 days past due fell by 37% 5.
