Analysis

Credit Card Delinquency and Charge-Offs

Credit-card stress shows up in two places: delinquency when payments slip, and charge-offs when the lender writes the balance off.

Black-and-white photograph of a man using a credit card at a store counter, United States, 1979
A man presents a credit card at a retail counter, 1979. The system that would grow to $1.28 trillion in outstanding balances was, at its origin, this ordinary. Marion S. Trikosko / U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress / No known restrictions on publication
2.9% the late fee · Q4 2025 · Board of Governors via FRED

The earlier credit-card essay mixed useful borrower-split evidence with retired ADI component language. The family method makes the separation clearer. Delinquency belongs to the Delinquency domain. Charge-offs belong to Default & Legal. Each domain receives equal weight in the national composite.

Credit-card stress remains important inside that measurement boundary. A delinquency rate, a charge-off rate, and a small-bank split are different claims and should stay on their own indicator surfaces.

The ADI reference page publishes the maintained national reading with its required band gloss. The score is a mean of input percentiles.

For source data, use credit card delinquency, credit card charge-offs, and small-bank card delinquency.

Refresh Trace

2026-07-30
ADI 43.8 2026-Q1 · Band 3 of 5 - On average, its inputs sit higher than in 44% of their own quarterly histories
Tracked Rank 9 / 11 refresh history
Refresh Delta +0.04 2026-07-16
Co-moving indicator Source Period Delta
SNAP (Food Stamp) Enrollment USDA Food and Nutrition Service 2026-04 -287175
Continued Unemployment Claims (SA) DOL via FRED 2026-07-18 -14000
Initial Unemployment Claims (SA) DOL via FRED 2026-07-25 +10000
Median Sales Price of Houses Sold (US) Census via FRED 2026-Q2 +7500.00
Total Revolving Credit Outstanding Federal Reserve via FRED 2026-05 -4480.51
credit cardsdelinquencydefault and legaldebt stress

Key Metrics

For researchers and journalists. All data sourced as noted.

Metric Value Period Source
All-bank credit card delinquency rate 2.94% Q4 2025 FRED DRCCLACBS
Small-bank credit card delinquency rate 6.60% Q4 2025 FRED DRCCLOBS
Credit card charge-off rate 4.07% Q4 2025 FRED CORCCACBS
Total credit card balances $1,277 billion Q4 2025 NY Fed Household Debt and Credit Report
Credit card APR (commercial bank) 21.00% Q1 2026 FRED TERMCBCCALLNS

Suggested Citations

"Delinquency belongs to the Delinquency domain. Charge-offs belong to Default & Legal. Each domain receives equal weight in the national composite." — American Default Research, April 2026.

"A delinquency rate, a charge-off rate, and a small-bank split are different claims and should stay on their own indicator surfaces." — American Default Research, April 2026.

Data Sources

Board of Governors via FRED

Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans

NY Fed Household Debt and Credit Report

Total Credit Card Balances

Federal Reserve via FRED

Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans

American Distress Index

See methodology.

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