---
title: "Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans"
slug: the-card-tax
summary: "The average credit card APR was 21.19% in Q3 2026, little changed from 21.39% a year earlier"
category: "Debt"
unit: percent
frequency: quarterly
direction: higher_is_worse
latest_value: 21.19
latest_period: "2026-Q3"
trend: stable
last_updated: "2026-10-07T00:00:00Z"
source: "Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED"
source_url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TERMCBCCALLNS
canonical_html: https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-card-tax/
citation_apa: "Kilburn, R. (2026). Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans [Data set]. American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-card-tax/"
citation_chicago: "Kilburn, Ross. 2026. \"Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans.\" American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-card-tax/."
citation_mla: "Kilburn, Ross. \"Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans.\" American Default Research, 2026, americandefault.org/indicators/the-card-tax/."
---

# Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans

Also tracked as The Card Tax.

> The average credit card APR was 21.19% in Q3 2026, little changed from 21.39% a year earlier

## Current Reading

As of 2026-Q3, Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans is **21.19%** (stable).

average APR on bank card accounts — little changed from a year earlier

## What Changed

- The average credit card APR was 21.19% in Q3 2026, little changed from 21.39% a year earlier.
- The highest rate since Q3 2025.
- Lower than a year earlier for seven quarters in a row.

## Recent Values

| Period | Value |
|--------|-------|
| 2026-Q3 | 21.19% |
| 2026-Q2 | 20.94% |
| 2026-Q1 | 21% |
| 2025-Q4 | 20.97% |
| 2025-Q3 | 21.39% |
| 2025-Q2 | 21.16% |
| 2025-Q1 | 21.37% |
| 2024-Q4 | 21.47% |
| 2024-Q3 | 21.76% |
| 2024-Q2 | 21.51% |
| 2024-Q1 | 21.59% |
| 2023-Q4 | 21.47% |

## Historical Context

- Peak since 1994: **21.76%** in Q3 2024
- Low since 1994: **11.82%** in Q3 2014
- Pre-pandemic average (2015-01 – 2019-12): **13.32%**
- Post-pandemic average (2020-01 – 2024-12): **17.61%**

## Methodology

This indicator carries quarterly observations and is interpreted as higher values indicate worse household conditions. Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED.
Automation: collected automatically on the daily refresh pipeline, with no hand entry.

## Source

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED — [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TERMCBCCALLNS](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TERMCBCCALLNS)

Data retrieved: 2026-10-07T00:00:00Z

## Related Indicators

- [plastic-ceiling](https://americandefault.org/indicators/plastic-ceiling/)
- [the-late-fee](https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-late-fee/)

## Machine-Readable Endpoints

- HTML page: https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-card-tax/
- JSON: https://americandefault.org/api/indicators/the-card-tax.json
- CSV: https://americandefault.org/api/downloads/the-card-tax.csv
- BibTeX: https://americandefault.org/citations/the-card-tax.bib
- RIS: https://americandefault.org/citations/the-card-tax.ris

## Citation

**APA 7th**

    Kilburn, R. (2026). Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans [Data set]. American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-card-tax/

**Chicago (author-date)**

    Kilburn, Ross. 2026. "Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans." American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-card-tax/.

**MLA 9th**

    Kilburn, Ross. "Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans." American Default Research, 2026, americandefault.org/indicators/the-card-tax/.

Use **American Default Research** as the institutional name in source lists, bibliographies, and press citations. **American Default** is the brand and URL form. **American Distress Index (ADI)** is the product name for the national composite score.