By Priya Raman

US credit card debt rose $22 billion in the third quarter to an all-time record $1.29 trillion, the New York Fed reported in its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, released Tuesday.

CNBC described the balance as a record, and it stood $52 billion above a year earlier. Total household debt also rose $334 billion, or 1.8%, to $19.1 trillion in the third quarter.

“Higher prices and higher rates have pushed more people into debt,” said Ted Rossman, principal consumer finance analyst at Money Management International.

What drove household debt higher?

The New York Fed’s quarterly figures broke the increase into four main categories:

• Mortgage balances increased $257 billion to $13.4 trillion.
• Home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs (loans secured by a home’s equity), rose $23 billion to $481 billion, the largest increase since 2005.
• Auto loan balances rose $21 billion to $1.73 trillion.
• Student loan balances rose $5 billion to $1.66 trillion.

Donghoon Lee, an economic research adviser at the New York Fed, said: “Household debt levels rose moderately, led by increases in mortgage and home equity line of credit originations.”

Originations mean new lending. Lee added that delinquency transition rates—the pace at which debts move into missed-payment status—for housing debt had crept up, although the overall credit quality of those loans remained strong.

Is credit-card quality worsening?

The New York Fed said 5.0% of outstanding debt was in some stage of delinquency in the third quarter, up 0.3 percentage point from the second quarter. Credit card transitions into early and serious delinquency improved, while the share of card balances newly 90 days or more past due fell to 6.87% from 7.05% a year earlier.

Aggregate credit card limits rose $115 billion during the quarter, expanding borrowers’ available credit even as the new-delinquency rate improved. The two trends can coexist: more credit supports larger balances, while fewer balances newly cross into 90-day-plus arrears.

Why are lower-income borrowers showing more stress?

In an accompanying blog post, New York Fed researchers said card issuers extended larger portions of newly opened accounts to people with smaller incomes and weaker credit histories during the pandemic. Those accounts now show higher levels of distress, the researchers wrote.

The researchers linked that stress to steep price increases and costlier borrowing, while pay for lower-income groups failed to keep pace with inflation. Unless the wider economy suffers fresh shocks, they expect newly delinquent card accounts to continue improving.

On a press call, New York Fed researchers said the overall debt increase reflected financial hardship among consumers, CNBC reported.

What do borrowers owe on average?

TransUnion reported average credit card debt per borrower of $6,678 in the third quarter, up from $6,523 a year earlier, in a credit-industry report released the previous week.

Its bankcard 90-day delinquency rate measured by balances fell to 1.99% from 2.05%. The borrower-level rate rose to 2.50% from 2.37%, even as the balance-level rate improved.

A balance-level rate measures the share of card dollars 90 days late; a borrower-level rate measures the share of borrowers with a late balance. The split shows a lower proportion of delinquent dollars alongside more borrowers carrying a late balance.

The TransUnion figures are not interchangeable with the New York Fed’s 6.87% measure. The Fed tracks balances newly becoming 90 days or more past late, rather than the broader stock of delinquent balances.

Where does the new record sit in history?

Card balances had reached $1.26 trillion in the second quarter, below the $1.28 trillion peak set in the fourth quarter of 2025. The new $1.29 trillion total in the third quarter moved above that earlier record, in a series the New York Fed has tracked since 1999.

What is the signal for lenders?

Taken together, the data show two simultaneous pressures: household debt reached $19.1 trillion, and 5.0% of outstanding debt sat in some stage of delinquency, up 0.3 percentage point from the second quarter. At the same time, the share of card balances newly 90 days or more past due improved to 6.87% from 7.05% a year earlier.

For lenders, the central risk is not simply record card borrowing. It is the concentration of stress among households whose pandemic-era accounts were extended to lower-income and weaker-credit borrowers, which later faced higher prices and borrowing costs.

The better recent flow into serious card delinquency offers some comfort, but the New York Fed’s forecast depends on the wider economy avoiding fresh shocks.