--- title: Credit Card Usage Has Soared Back to Pre-Pandemic Highs description: Credit card balances in the U.S. are back up to highs last seen before the pandemic. The increase in spending is tied to high inflation. authors: - name: Sarah Hansen role: Senior Writer url: https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/ bio: Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. Previously, she covered economic policy and capital markets on the breaking news desk at Forbes. education: Northwestern University, New York University at_money_since: 2021 articles: 347 covers: - Credit Cards - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-m-hansen/ 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: '2022-11-01T16:43:58.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:41:39.000Z' section: Credit Cards tags: - News word_count: 445 canonical: https://money.com/credit-card-use-highs-before-pandemic/ 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 Collage of three hands holding credit crads and a cutout of a hundred dollar bill in the background](https://img.money.com/2022/10/News-2022-Credit-Card-Debt-Increase.jpg?crop=0px%2C49px%2C1728px%2C972px&quality=85) After two years of extra saving and prudent credit card usage, Americans are spending again. [Credit card](https://money.com/best-credit-cards/) balances rose to $916 billion in September, according to data from the credit bureau Equifax. The last time balances were this high was in December 2019, before the pandemic. Balances fell to a low of $748 billion in April 2021 as consumers pulled back on spending in the early days of the crisis and government stimulus checks helped them [pay down debt](https://money.com/how-to-pay-off-debt/). Now, with stimulus checks gone and inflation raising prices on nearly everything, Americans’ credit card spending has jumped more than 20% to reach its pre-crisis level — and it’s on track to surpass that previous all-time high as the [holiday shopping](https://money.com/inflation-impact-2022-holidays/) season ramps up. On an earnings call last month, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told analysts that despite expectations that “talk of [inflation](https://money.com/items-prices-rising-faster-than-inflation/), [recession](https://money.com/are-we-in-a-recession/), and other factors would \[mean\] slower spending growth…We just don't see \[that\] here at Bank of America.” Data from the bank shows that credit and debit card spending rose 9% in the third quarter. ## Credit card debt is rising amid inflation This growth in spending is coming as persistently high inflation means that everything — including essentials like [groceries](https://money.com/dollar-scholar-save-money-groceries/) and [gas](https://money.com/why-gas-prices-arent-falling-forecasts/) — is more expensive. But Equifax Risk Advisory Leader Tom Aliff points out that credit card spending actually isn’t growing as fast as experts would expect given how much prices have increased. “It's very healthy growth,” he says. Equifax data shows the fastest growth in credit card spending is coming from those with higher [credit scores](https://money.com/what-is-a-credit-score/) — people whose credit ratings agencies deem most likely to pay their bills in full and on time. On top of that, the average credit utilization rate (the portion of their available credit consumers are using at a given time) for bank-issued credit cards in September was just under 20%, according to Equifax’s data. That’s well below the 30% threshold experts recommend and also lower than December 2019 levels. Of course, there are also many households who have been forced to turn to credit cards in recent months to help [cope with rising prices](https://money.com/new-credit-cards-during-inflation/). That can be expensive if they can't pay off their monthly balances in full: The average credit card rate for people who carry a balance and pay interest was 18.4% in August, according to [data](https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/current/g19.pdf) from the Federal Reserve. That's roughly two percentage points higher than the average rate in 2021. [The Average Credit Score Didn't Go up This Year — for the First Time in Over a Decade](https://money.com/average-credit-score-2022-fico/) [7 Best Cash Back Credit Cards of 2022](https://money.com/best-cash-back-credit-cards/) [7 Steps to Improve Your Credit Score Right Now](https://money.com/7-ways-to-improve-credit-score/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/credit-card-use-highs-before-pandemic/#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": "Credit Card", "item": "https://money.com/credit-card/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Credit Card Usage Has Soared Back to Pre-Pandemic Highs" } ] }, { "@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/credit-card-use-highs-before-pandemic/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/credit-card-use-highs-before-pandemic/", "name": "Credit Card Usage Has Soared Back to Pre-Pandemic Highs", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2022-11-01T16:43:58.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/credit-card-use-highs-before-pandemic/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/credit-card-use-highs-before-pandemic/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:41:39.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Credit Card Usage Has Soared Back to Pre-Pandemic Highs", "articleSection": "Credit Cards", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2022/10/News-2022-Credit-Card-Debt-Increase.jpg?crop=0px%2C49px%2C1728px%2C972px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "News-2022-Credit-Card-Debt-Increase" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sarah Hansen", "url": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/#author", "description": "Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. 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