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 Q1 2026, 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%. Credit card delinquency feeds the American Distress Index's Delinquency domain; a rising rate means a growing share of households cannot keep up with minimum payments. Source: Federal Reserve via FRED (DRCCLACBS).
Credit card delinquency has eased from its Q2 2024 reading of 3.22% but remains at 2.9%, still above the pre-pandemic norm of 2.6%.
The easing in credit card delinquency is real, but it tells a different story when you read the rest of the credit pipeline.
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 2.9% as of Q1 2026. The series has improved across several consecutive quarters. 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 remains elevated. Credit Card Charge-Offs are still moving through the loss-recognition stage. 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 still elevated, 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% low reached in 2015. Today's 2.9% sits well above the late-cycle 2019 reading. The cycle low in 2021 was 1.53%, reached during pandemic 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 delinquency scores in the County Distress Index.
Explore all 3,144 counties →| Period | Value | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 2.92% | −0.1 pts |
| 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 |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the current credit card delinquency rate?
The credit card delinquency rate was 2.9% in Q1 2026, 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 in its Delinquency domain.
How does credit card delinquency connect to the American Distress Index?
Credit card delinquency is one of four inputs to the American Distress Index's Delinquency domain, alongside mortgage, consumer loan, and auto loan delinquency. Each input is scored against its own quarterly history since 2005, so the domain reads how today's late payments compare with every quarter on record.
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 after source release.
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