At a little over 18%, the average annual percentage rate (APR) on new credit cards is within a percentage point of its all-time high of 19% set in July of 1991, according to Rossman. “The effect on existing credit card borrowers is probably actually worse,” he said, because of the rate hikes the Fed has undertaken already this year. “Chances are your credit card is already 2.25 percentage points higher than it was in March.
Despite the climbing rates, credit card debt is rapidly approaching the all-time record set in the fourth quarter of 2019, Rossman said.
In August, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that total household debt grew in the second quarter by $312 billion to a total of $16.15 trillion. Credit cards were a big cause of that: In the second quarter, 233 million new credit accounts were opened, the largest increase since 2008. Of the new debt that accumulated during that quarter, $46 billion was credit card debt.
Credit bureau TransUnion found that there are more credit cards today, and there is more debt on those cards. TransUnion said 161.6 million people in the US — roughly half of the total population — had access to a credit card in the second quarter, a jump from 153.3 million a year earlier. In that same time frame, the average debt per borrower rose from $4,817 to $5,270.
Det hjelper jo litt etter hvert, men ting tar tid.
