Consumers have been grappling with rising credit card interest rates and ballooning balances in the past few years, a recent Fed survey found.

During the same 2022 to 2025 period, the average credit card interest rate jumped from 14.6% to 21.4%, according to the report.

While some credit cardholders are watching their balances balloon over time, others merely use the payment tool for convenience without carrying a balance, according to the report.

The proportion of families reporting a credit card balance after their last payment declined slightly from 45.2% in 2022 to 44.7% in 2025.

The share of survey respondents who used credit cards without carrying a balance remained about the same, at 55.8% in 2025, compared with 55.7% in 2022. Still, that proportion is lower than 64% who said the same in 2013, per the report.

The Fed’s latest survey builds on previous research indicating that consumers rely heavily on debit and credit cards.

In the Fed’s triennial payments study, debit cards accounted for the majority of noncash payments, totaling 120.6 billion in 2024. But while debit card usage grew at the slowest rate over the previous three years, credit card transactions exceeded debit card growth during that same period, per the study.

As the Fed tracks rising credit card debt and interest rates, other reports signal growing strain among credit cardholders.

D. Power survey released in August. Roughly three in 10 respondents in that survey with credit card debt had a balance of $2,500 or more.

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