How Many Americans Have Interest-Bearing Credit-Card Debt?

August 21, 2023

by Wolf Richter Wolf Street

Not everyone has credit cards, and only a portion of those that have credit cards have revolving balances that accrue interest: a stroll through the data.

The short answer: Only about 28% of adult consumers (18 years old and over) have one or more cards with interest-accruing balances. But amazingly, this is not something we can just easily look up in one place. But we can approximate it the hard way.

The discussion below is not based on some kind of internet survey of 1,000 consumers that eagerly volunteered to participate in yet another silly internet survey.