--- title: Average Credit Card Debt Climbs ‘Significantly Higher’ in the Past Year description: Credit card debt in America is growing larger, with the average borrower adding $500 to their balance in the last year alone. authors: - name: Brenden Rearick role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/brenden-rearick/ bio: Brenden Rearick is a former reporter at Money who specialized in covering breaking news and enterprise stories about credit cards, real estate, investing, and personal finance trends. education: University of Pittsburgh, BA at_money_since: 2023 articles: 133 covers: - Credit Cards - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology former_staff: true editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Credit Cards - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2024-01-30T13:00:42.000Z' section: Credit Cards tags: - News word_count: 342 canonical: https://money.com/average-credit-card-debt-increases/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo-illustration of a man being weighed down by a stack of money; repeated in ascending order.](https://img.money.com/2024/01/News-Credit-Card-Debt-Higher.jpg) After a tumultuous year with elevated inflation and high interest rates, the average credit card holder's debt has ballooned. The typical American's [credit card balance](https://money.com/what-will-it-take-to-pay-off-my-credit-card/) balance shot up by 8.2% over the last year, according to a new report. What's more, over half of all card owners are carrying a balance month to month, even as inflation continues to moderate. ## Regain financial stability with the help of Freedom Debt Relief ### Freedom can start you on the path to resolve your debt, especially if you owe over $20,000. Why wait? Select your state to get started today! [Get Started](https://money.com/pr/l67257dab4e3?ap_referrer=%2Faverage-credit-card-debt-increases%2F) ## Credit card debt rises year over year A [new report](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vantagescore-creditgauge-december-2023-consumer-credit-delinquencies-rise-again-across-nearly-all-vantagescore-credit-tiers-302046268.html) by credit scoring company VantageScore shows that as of Dec. 2023, the average American credit card holder carries a "significantly higher" balance compared to last year. The average balance is now up to $6,400, marking an 8.2% (or roughly $500) increase over 12 months earlier. The company reports that nearly half of all borrowers carry a balance month-to-month, despite [APRs](https://money.com/what-is-apr/) of over 20%. VantageScore also finds that the average credit utilization rate has increased by 0.7 percentage points to 31.7% in that same time. Credit utilization, which is calculated by dividing total credit balance by the credit limit across all of your cards, is a metric creditors use when calculating your [credit score](https://money.com/what-is-a-credit-score/). A rule of thumb says that your utilization rate should stay below 30%. It may come as no surprise that people are relying on their [credit cards](https://money.com/best-credit-cards/) more. The Federal Reserve's interest rate balancing act and inflation nudged Americans into using additional credit to pay for everyday expenses. And it's not just credit cards that borrowers are struggling with: Debt stemming from [auto loans](https://money.com/get-a-car-loan/), [mortgages](https://money.com/best-mortgage-lenders/) and [personal loans](https://money.com/best-personal-loans/) have all inched upward year-over-year too. The credit snapshot isn't entirely gloomy, though. The average VantageScore credit score has increased by five points over the last year, improving to 701. Late last year, the [average credit score](https://money.com/average-credit-score-record-high-2023/) even reached its highest level ever amid low unemployment levels and the erasure of small medical debts from credit reports. ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/25289/medium_2e7b27ce-b30d-40a3-beef-0139ecba6b47.png) If you owe over $20,000 or more, Freedom Debt Relief can help you get back on your feet! [Get Started](https://money.com/pr/u5c2defb44d4?ap_referrer=%2Faverage-credit-card-debt-increases%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/average-credit-card-debt-increases/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Credit Cards", "item": "https://money.com/credit-cards/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Average Credit Card Debt Climbs ‘Significantly Higher’ in the Past Year" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/average-credit-card-debt-increases/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/average-credit-card-debt-increases/", "name": "Average Credit Card Debt Climbs ‘Significantly Higher’ in the Past Year", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-01-30T13:00:42.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/average-credit-card-debt-increases/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/average-credit-card-debt-increases/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Average Credit Card Debt Climbs ‘Significantly Higher’ in the Past Year", "articleSection": "Credit Cards", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/01/News-Credit-Card-Debt-Higher.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Credit-Card-Debt-Higher" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brenden Rearick", "url": "https://money.com/author/brenden-rearick/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brenden-rearick/#author", "description": "Brenden Rearick is a former reporter at Money who specialized in covering breaking news and enterprise stories about credit cards, real estate, investing, and personal finance trends.\r\n\r\n", "email": "brenden.rearick@money.com", "alumniOf": "University of Pittsburgh, BA" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2024-01-30T13:00:42.000Z", "description": "Credit card debt in America is growing larger, with the average borrower adding $500 to their balance in the last year alone.", "abstract": "Credit card debt in America is growing larger, with the average borrower adding $500 to their balance in the last year alone.", "@id": "https://money.com/average-credit-card-debt-increases/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "editor": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "wordCount": 342, "keywords": [ "News" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Credit card", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Credit card debt", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_debt" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Credit bureau", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau" ] } ] } ] } ```