Americans who carry a credit card balance from month to month are being charged 22.15 percent interest, according to the Federal Reserve Board. That is the rate on accounts assessed interest, as measured in the board’s G.19 consumer credit release of Sept. 8, 2026, which covers the July 2026 reference month. The same release puts revolving credit outstanding at $1,357.2 billion, or about $1.36 trillion.
The release is the Federal Reserve’s regular monthly count of household borrowing, and the card-rate figures in it matter most to older borrowers living on fixed incomes, for whom an unpaid balance compounds against a monthly check that does not grow at the same pace.
Two card rates in one release, and which one applies to a balance
The G.19 publishes two separate credit card rates, and they are easy to confuse. The first is the rate across all accounts, which the Federal Reserve Board puts at 20.94 percent. That series includes every card account in the sample, including those whose holders pay in full each month and are never charged interest. The second is the rate on accounts assessed interest, at 22.15 percent. That series counts only accounts that were actually charged interest, which means cardholders who carried a balance.
The 22.15 percent figure is therefore the better description of what carrying a balance costs, and the 20.94 percent figure is the lower number that results when interest-free accounts are blended in. The gap between the two is 1.21 percentage points. According to the Federal Reserve Board’s G.19 release, both rates for the second quarter of 2026 are shown at the same levels, 20.94 percent and 22.15 percent, so the July release records no change between the two periods.
The $1.36 trillion revolving debt total
Revolving credit is the category that holds credit card balances and other open-ended lines. The Federal Reserve Board reports it at $1,357.2 billion for July 2026 on a seasonally adjusted basis. Rounded to the nearest hundredth of a trillion, the total is $1.36 trillion. Total consumer credit, which also includes auto and student loans, is a larger number, $5,186.2 billion, and is a different measure from the revolving figure used here.
The release describes July’s movement in plain terms: “In July, consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.2 percent. Revolving credit increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent, while nonrevolving credit increased at an annual rate of 4.8 percent.” Revolving balances grew in July, in other words, but more slowly than installment-type borrowing.
The release carries no named spokesperson or analyst, so the figures stand as the Federal Reserve Board’s own statistics rather than as comment from an individual economist.
What 22.15 percent means on a household balance
The release does not translate its rates into household costs, so the following arithmetic is ours and is illustrative only. It uses simple annual interest on a balance left untouched for a year, ignores compounding, minimum payments and fees, and assumes the quoted rate applies throughout.
- On a $5,000 balance, 22.15 percent comes to $1,107.50 in interest over a year, or about $92.29 a month.
- At the 20.94 percent all-accounts rate, the same $5,000 balance would cost $1,047.00 a year. The $60.50 difference is the price of reading the wrong series.
- On a $10,000 balance, the 22.15 percent rate produces $2,215.00 a year, roughly $184.58 a month.
Actual cards vary widely, and these figures are an average for accounts assessed interest, not a quote for any one issuer. A cardholder’s own statement lists the rate that applies to that account.
The household backdrop for revolving debt
Household finances give borrowers little slack. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Sept. 30 that the personal saving rate was 4.1 percent for August 2026, with real income flat. A thin savings cushion and flat purchasing power are the conditions in which a revolving balance tends to persist rather than get paid down.
Fed index pages, including the board’s 2026 press release list, showed no newer G.19 than the Sept. 8 release when checked, so the July figures remain the current print.
The Federal Reserve Board’s figures for July 2026 therefore settle the numbers in plain terms: $1,357.2 billion in revolving credit outstanding, a 20.94 percent card rate across all accounts, and 22.15 percent for accounts assessed interest.
Carrying a balance at a rate that has not moved
The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit is written for households that carry card balances or receive collection letters and want a single place to keep track of what is owed and what has been disputed. It addresses the disorganization that tends to surround debt: letters that go unanswered, deposits that are hard to account for, and no record of what was said to whom.
The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit is a 10-page kit that includes the debt-validation steps and a protected-funds and dispute log, along with the 2-month bank protection rule and a frozen-account response.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
