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AMERICANS’ credit card debt climbed to $1.26 trillion in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit.
The $21 billion quarterly increase left total card debt at $1.26trn, just shy of the $1.28trn peak reached in the fourth quarter of last year, according to ABC News.
Total US household debt edged down $13bn in the second quarter to $18.8trn. Mortgage balances led the decline, falling $74bn to $13.1trn. Auto loan balances rose $28bn to $1.71trn, a new record high. Home equity lines of credit increased $13bn to $459bn, while student loan balances declined $7bn to $1.65trn.
Between mid-2022 and early 2026, the portion of card balances that had gone at least 90 days without payment climbed from 7.6 per cent to 12.8pc, according to CNBC. New York Fed researchers cautioned that the figure reflects a backlog of old charged-off debts lingering on credit reports rather than a broad deterioration in consumers’ current repayment behaviour.
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