U.S. credit card debt decreased by $50 billion during the first three months of 2024, according to recent findings from WalletHub.
06/17/2024 4:05 P.M.
2 minute read
According to a recent Credit Card Debt Study conducted by WalletHub, consumers paid down $50 billion in debt during the first quarter of 2024—around 8% more than last year.
The study explored factors like total household debt, finance charges and charge-off rates, deposits and more.
Here are the survey’s key findings:
- Outstanding credit card debt decreased by roughly 5% during Q1 2024, compared to the previous quarter.
- The decrease in credit card debt during Q1 2024 was roughly 19% smaller than the post-Great Recession average for the first quarter of a year.
- Since the end of the Great Recession, consumer performance has regressed on a year-over-year basis in six of every 10 quarters.
- Total credit card debt increased by $109 billion in 2023, which is a 7% improvement compared to the prior year.
- Credit card finance charges decreased by 5.38% during Q1 2024, with $166 billion charged during the quarter.
- The credit card charge-off rate increased by 14.25% during Q1 2024, finishing at 4.65%.
- The average household credit card balance was $10,479 at the end of Q1 2024. That’s $2,152 below the record set in Q4 2007.
- The ratio between total credit card debt and deposits decreased to 7.1% in Q1 2024, which is 61% below the peak.
- The ratio between total credit card debt and assets was 0.69% in Q1 2024—50% below the peak.
“U.S. credit card debt decreased by $50 billion during the first three months of 2024,” said John Kiernan, WalletHub editor. “That’s around 8% better than the first quarter last year, giving us some cause for optimism. Hopefully, this is a sign that people recognize the need for action to deal with the combination of high debt levels, record-high interest rates, and the Fed’s inability to get inflation under control for more than three years. Unfortunately, early Q2 data does not look very promising.”
WalletHub’s quarterly credit card debt studies are based on analysis of the latest data on consumers’ finances available from TransUnion as well as the Federal Reserve and Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Remember, subscribe to ACA Daily and Member Alerts under your My ACA profile when logged in to acainternational.org.