Credit Card Interest Rate
The Federal Reserve's G.19 release reports the average interest rate commercial banks charge on credit card plans, and this series covers only the accounts that were assessed interest: the cardholders who carry a balance from month to month. That makes it the rate a revolving borrower actually pays, higher than the all-accounts rate, which averages in cardholders who pay in full and pay nothing. It is published for the middle month of each quarter.
Rate on card accounts assessed interest
- Change over a year
- -0.47 pp
Next release: Nov 6, 2026
Latest reading
As of August 2026, credit card accounts that carry a balance pay an average interest rate of 22.36% at US commercial banks, 1.01 pp below the August 2024 record of 23.37%. The prior reading was 22.15%. Card rates follow the federal funds rate with a wide, sticky margin on top, so they rise quickly when the Fed tightens and fall slowly when it eases. Read the level against the balances it applies to: the interest bill on revolving debt is roughly the balance times this rate, so a higher rate on a larger balance compounds. The households most exposed are the ones in the delinquency data, which is why this page sits beside the Delinquency Tracker. Series history runs from 1994 to present.
Sources, methodology & freshnessFederal Reserve G.19 via FRED (TERMCBCCINTNS), quarterly (middle month of each quarter), commercial banks, accounts assessed interest · Quarterly, with every releaseData as of 2026-08-01 · Open ↓Close ↑
Full history
Methodology & data
Card Interest Rate is sourced from Fed via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (Federal Reserve G.19 via FRED (TERMCBCCINTNS), quarterly (middle month of each quarter), commercial banks, accounts assessed interest). We pull the complete history, chart it on a quarterly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Every reading is stamped with its release date. Latest observation 2026-08-01; site refreshed 2026-10-09. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Credit Card Interest Rate?
The Federal Reserve's G.19 release reports the average interest rate commercial banks charge on credit card plans, and this series covers only the accounts that were assessed interest: the cardholders who carry a balance from month to month. That makes it the rate a revolving borrower actually pays, higher than the all-accounts rate, which averages in cardholders who pay in full and pay nothing. It is published for the middle month of each quarter.
How do you read Card Interest Rate?
Card rates follow the federal funds rate with a wide, sticky margin on top, so they rise quickly when the Fed tightens and fall slowly when it eases. Read the level against the balances it applies to: the interest bill on revolving debt is roughly the balance times this rate, so a higher rate on a larger balance compounds. The households most exposed are the ones in the delinquency data, which is why this page sits beside the Delinquency Tracker.
Where does the Card Interest Rate data come from?
Federal Reserve G.19 via FRED (TERMCBCCINTNS), quarterly (middle month of each quarter), commercial banks, accounts assessed interest. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/credit-card-interest-rate.csv.
How often is Card Interest Rate updated?
Card Interest Rate is a quarterly series from Fed, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.
Rate on card accounts assessed interest
- Change over a year
- -0.47 pp
Next release: Nov 6, 2026