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Record share of Americans carry credit card debt, can’t pay monthly bills

March 25, 2026 / 9:16 AM EDT / CBS News

A record share of Americans are unable to pay off their monthly credit card bills, compounding money woes for U.S. residents grappling with affordability concerns, according to a recent analysis.

Roughly 111 million people — 50% of Americans with a credit card and 40% of the U.S. adult population — carry credit card debt, according to a joint report from The Century Foundation, a left-leaning think tank, and the advocacy group Protect Borrowers. That’s a 17% increase from the 95 million who were in the same situation five years earlier, the report found.

The findings show that Americans were unable to pay their monthly credit card bills even before the war in Iran drove up oil and gas prices, now closing in on $4 a gallon, The Century Foundation president Julie Margetta-Morgan told CBS News. With fuel costs about 34% higher than a month ago, many households may find themselves even more financially strained, she said.

“We were already in an impossible financial situation for most consumers. Now gas prices are rising, and those are rippling throughout the economy,” she said.

Skipping meals

One-quarter of Americans say they have skipped meals to cover their monthly expenses, while one-third report delaying or skipping medical care, a separate study from The Century Foundation found in December.

“And that was before gas prices spiked,” Margetta-Morgan said.

Credit card debt is costly to hold, with the average interest rate standing at 23.7%, according to LendingTree.

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Consumers “are both carrying a high level of debt and paying exorbitantly high levels of interest on it,” Margetta-Morgan said. “We are in an unprecedented situation that keeps growing month to month.”

With financial pressures mounting on many households, some are tapping other sources of money, with a record share of Americans dipping into their 401(k)s to cover emergency expenses. Financial experts caution against such a step because tapping retirement assets can lead to penalties and may reduce a person’s financial readiness for retirement.

$2.1 trillion in credit card interest

President Trump in January floated a proposal that would cap credit card interest rates at 10%, to prevent Americans from being “ripped off” by card issuers, he said at the time. But the cap has not come to fruition.

The banking industry has pushed back on Mr. Trump’s proposed limit, arguing that it would crimp consumers’ access to credit and direct them toward riskier lending products.

Margetta-Morgan said high credit card interest rates are a profit center for banks and card companies, and accused them of “jacking up the cost of debt for people at every turn.” Americans have paid banks and card companies $2.1 trillion in credit card interest since 2010, according to the report.

A 10% cap would save Americans $368 million in interest a day, the report found.

Margetta-Morgan is concerned that rising gas prices could be the factor the push some 40% of the population over the financial brink.

“People are just squeezing out minimum payments on credit cards, and it’s very possible that we’ll see people tipping over the edge and be unable to afford keeping up with their debt,” she said.

Edited by Aimee Picchi

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/tips-for-paying-off-credit-card-debt-managing-interest/