The Late Fee
Credit card loan delinquency rate
Currently elevated — historically leads Charge-Off Rate on All Loans by 3 quarters. Charge-Off Rate on All Loans · View projections
What is the current The Late Fee?
The U.S. credit card delinquency rate was 2.9% in Q4 2025, according to the Federal Reserve Board — down slightly from the 2024 high of 3.24% but still well above the pre-pandemic norm of roughly 2.5%. Rising credit card delinquency is a component of the American Distress Index's Debt Stress dimension and signals that a growing share of households cannot keep up with minimum payments. Source: Federal Reserve via FRED (DRCCLACBS).
Credit card delinquency has eased from its 2024 peak of 3.22% but remains stuck at 2.94%, still above the pre-pandemic norm of 2.6%.
The easing in credit card delinquency is real. And it's also not what it looks like.
The Board of Governors' data show the delinquency rate on bank-reported credit card balances peaked at 3.22% in Q2 2024 and has drifted down to 2.94% as of Q4 2025. That's five consecutive quarters of modest improvement. Read in isolation, it looks like the credit cycle is turning.
Read alongside the rest of the pipeline, it looks different. The 60-Day Line is still near 3.0%. Credit Card Charge-Offs are running at 4.11% — the highest pace since 2011. The delinquency rate is falling because the accounts that were delinquent are being written off and removed from the delinquent population. Easing in this metric, with charge-offs near a 14-year high, is not the same as easing in distress.
The pre-pandemic baseline matters too. The rate sat at 2.6% through 2019 — already climbing slowly from the 2.1% floor reached in 2015. Today's 2.94% is about 13% higher than the late-cycle 2019 reading. The cycle floor in 2021 was 1.53%, reached during peak stimulus. We are nowhere near any of those. We are near the top of the recovery range, in a labor market starting to soften.
Explore Further
How has The Late Fee changed over time?
Most affected counties
Counties with the highest consumer credit distress scores in the County Distress Index.
Explore all 3,144 counties →| Period | Value | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 2025 | 2.94% | −0.1 pts |
| Q3 2025 | 2.98% | −0.2 pts |
| Q2 2025 | 3.04% | −0.2 pts |
| Q1 2025 | 3.06% | −0.1 pts |
| Q4 2024 | 3.08% | −0.0 pts |
| Q3 2024 | 3.2% | +0.3 pts |
| Q2 2024 | 3.22% | +0.5 pts |
| Q1 2024 | 3.17% | +0.7 pts |
| Q4 2023 | 3.1% | +0.8 pts |
| Q3 2023 | 2.94% | +0.9 pts |
| Q2 2023 | 2.75% | +0.9 pts |
| Q1 2023 | 2.47% | +0.8 pts |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the current credit card delinquency rate?
The credit card delinquency rate was 2.9% in Q4 2025, according to the Federal Reserve Board. This is down from the recent high of 3.24% in Q4 2024 but remains above the pre-pandemic average of approximately 2.5%.
What does credit card delinquency measure?
Credit card delinquency measures the share of credit card balances at least 30 days past due. The Federal Reserve publishes this quarterly as the "Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans, All Commercial Banks" (FRED series DRCCLACBS). Rising delinquency means more households cannot keep up with minimum payments.
Why is credit card delinquency elevated compared to pre-pandemic?
Two forces drove delinquency above pre-pandemic levels: record credit card balances (over $1.2 trillion) and interest rates near 20-year highs (averaging 21%+). When savings buffers ran out and rates rose, more households fell behind on minimum payments. The American Distress Index tracks this as part of its Debt Stress component.
How does credit card delinquency connect to the American Distress Index?
Credit card delinquency is a component of the Debt Stress dimension in the American Distress Index, which carries 41.6% of the composite score — the largest share of any component. The ADI's Buffer Depletion dimension (savings rates) typically leads Debt Stress by 9 quarters, meaning delinquency rises after savings fall — a pattern validated in the 2007-2010 crisis.
Where does credit card delinquency data come from?
The Federal Reserve Board publishes credit card delinquency rates quarterly as part of its Charge-Off and Delinquency Rates on Loans and Leases at Commercial Banks report. American Default tracks this via the FRED series DRCCLACBS, updated with a one-quarter lag.
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