Low-score borrowers accounted for 18.5% of card originations at large banks in the second quarter, up from 16.1% a year earlier.
Median new lines for borrowers with credit scores below 660 rose to $600 but remained below the $7,000 median for borrowers at 720 or higher.
PYMNTS Intelligence found that 35% of subprime consumers hold neither a credit nor store card.
Large banks are putting more credit cards into the hands of consumers with low credit scores, but they are not pairing that expansion with large amounts of new borrowing capacity.
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The combination indicates how card issuers are pursuing growth after several years of tight underwriting. Rather than making a broad shift toward looser credit standards, banks can approve more consumers while controlling their exposure through the size of each credit line.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s “Q2 2026 Insights Report,” published Wednesday (Oct. 7), found that consumers with credit scores below 660 accounted for 18.5% of new credit card accounts at large banks in the second quarter, up from 16.1% a year earlier. The number of new card accounts across the banks rose nearly 4%, while total dollar originations increased 1.5%. As account growth outpaced commitments, the average new credit line declined from $6,216 to $6,066.
The read-across is that banks are reaching further down the credit spectrum without committing the same amount of money to each newly opened account.
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