US Card Delinquencies Fall to 2.85% as Available Credit Hits Record $4.3 Trillion
Updated
Updated · WOLF STREET · Aug 25
US Card Delinquencies Fall to 2.85% as Available Credit Hits Record $4.3 Trillion
1 articles · Updated · WOLF STREET · Aug 25
Summary
Federal Reserve data showed the 30-plus-day delinquency rate on bank-issued credit cards fell to 2.85% in Q2, the lowest since Q2 2023 and down from 3.04% a year earlier.
Equifax data also improved, with 60-plus-day delinquencies across all cards dropping to 2.69%, while Fitch put prime-card 60-plus-day delinquencies at 0.84%, the lowest since the pandemic-era stimulus period.
New York Fed analysis said the much-cited rise in 90-plus-day delinquencies mainly reflects stale charged-off debts lingering longer on credit reports, not a broad deterioration in new missed payments.
Consumers still had $4.30 trillion in unused card capacity in Q2 as aggregate credit limits reached a record $5.56 trillion, far above $1.26 trillion in statement balances.
That gap suggests card use remains driven more by payments than borrowing: roughly $6.51 trillion flowed through credit cards in 2024, while combined credit-card and other consumer debt equaled just 7.75% of disposable income in Q2.