Credit card debt in the United States has been growing at a fast pace between 2021 and 2025. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the overall amount of credit card debt reached its highest value throughout the timeline considered here. COVID-19 had a big impact on the indebtedness of Americans, as credit card debt decreased from *** billion U.S. dollars in the last quarter of 2019 to *** billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2021. What portion of Americans use credit cards? A substantial portion of Americans had at least one credit card in 2025. That year, the penetration rate of credit cards in the United States was ** percent. This number increased by nearly seven percentage points since 2014. The primary factors behind the high utilization of credit cards in the United States are a prevalent culture of convenience, a wide range of reward schemes, and consumer preferences for postponed payments. Which companies dominate the credit card issuing market? In 2024, the leading credit card issuers in the U.S. by volume were JPMorgan Chase & Co. and American Express. Both firms recorded transactions worth over one trillion U.S. dollars that year. Citi and Capital One were the next banks in that ranking, with the transactions made with their credit cards amounting to over half a trillion U.S. dollars that year. Those industry giants, along with other prominent brand names in the industry such as Bank of America, Synchrony Financial, Wells Fargo, and others, dominate the credit card market. Due to their extensive customer base, appealing rewards, and competitive offerings, they have gained a significant market share, making them the preferred choice for consumers.

Key information about United States Household Debt

• United States Household Debt reached 18,036.0 USD bn in Dec 2024, compared with the reported number of 17,943.0 USD bn in the previous quarter
• US Household Debt: USD mn data is updated quarterly, available from Mar 1999 to Dec 2024
• The data reached an all-time high of 18,036.0 USD bn in Dec 2024 and a record low of 4,540.0 USD bn in Mar 1999

Federal Reserve Board of New York provides quarterly Household Debt in USD. Household Debt includes Mortgages, Home Equity Revolving, Auto Loans, Bankcards, Student Loans and Others.


Further information about United States Household Debt

• In the latest reports, United States Household Debt accounted for 61.7 % of the country's Nominal GDP in Dec 2024
• Money Supply M2 in United States increased 21,533.8 USD bn YoY in Dec 2024
• United States Foreign Exchange Reserves was measured at 34.9 USD bn in Dec 2024
• The Foreign Exchange Reserves equaled 0.1 Months of Import in Dec 2024
• United States Domestic Credit reached 30,648.3 USD bn in Mar 2024, representing an drop of 0.3 % YoY

The Public Use Database (PUDB) is released annually to meet FHFA’s requirement under 12 U.S.C. 4543 and 4546(d) to publicly disclose data about the Enterprises’ single-family and multifamily mortgage acquisitions. The datasets supply mortgage lenders, planners, researchers, policymakers, and housing advocates with information concerning the flow of mortgage credit in America’s neighborhoods. Beginning with data for mortgages acquired in 2018, FHFA has ordered that the PUDB be expanded to include additional data that is the same as the data definitions used by the regulations implementing the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, as required by 12 U.S.C. 4543(a)(2) and 4546(d)(1).The PUDB single-family datasets include loan-level records that include data elements on the income, race, and sex of each borrower as well as the census tract location of the property, loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, age of mortgage note, and affordability of the mortgage. New for 2018 are the inclusion of the borrower’s debt-to-income (DTI) ratio and detailed LTV ratio data at the census tract level. The PUDB multifamily property-level datasets include information on the unpaid principal balance and type of seller/servicer from which the Enterprise acquired the mortgage. New for 2018 is the inclusion of property size data at the census tract level. The multifamily unit-class files also include information on the number and affordability of the units in the property. Both the single-family and multifamily datasets include indicators of whether the purchases are from “underserved” census tracts, as defined in terms of median income and minority percentage of population.Prior to 2010 the single-family PUDB consisted of three files: Census Tract, National A, and National B files. With the 2010 PUDB a fourth file, National C, was added to provide information on high-cost mortgages acquired by the Enterprises. The single-family Census Tract file includes information on the location of the property based on the 2010 Census for acquisition years 2012 through 2021, and the 2020 Census beginning with the 2022 acquisition year. The National files contain other information but lack detailed geographic information in order to protect Enterprise proprietary data. The multifamily datasets also consist of a Census Tract file, and a National file without detailed geographic information.Several dashboards are available to analyze the data:Enterprise Multifamily Public Use Database DashboardThe Enterprise Multifamily Public Use Database (PUDB) Dashboard provides users an interactive way to generate and visualize Enterprise PUDB data of multifamily mortgage acquisitions by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It shows characteristics about multifamily loans, properties and units at the national level, and characteristics about multifamily loans and properties at the state level. It includes key statistics, time series charts, and state maps of multifamily housing characteristics such as median loan amount, number of properties, average number of units per property, and unit affordability. The underlying aggregate statistics presented in the dashboard come from three multifamily data files in the Enterprise PUDB, updated annually since 2008, including two property-level datasets and a data file on the size and affordability of individual units.Enterprise Multifamily Public Use DashboardPress Release - FHFA Releases Data Visualization Dashboard for Enterprises’ Multifamily Mortgage AcquisitionsMortgage Loan and Natural Disaster DashboardFHFA published an interactive Mortgage Loan and Natural Disaster Dashboard that combines FHFA’s PUDB reports on single-family and multifamily acquisitions for the regulated entities, FEMA’s National Risk Index (NRI), and FHFA’s Duty to Serve 2023 High-Needs rural areas. Desired geographies can be exported to .pdf and Excel from the Public Use Database and National Risk Index Dashboard.Mortgage Loan and Natural Disaster DashboardMortgage Loan and Natural Disaster Dashboard FAQs