Total US credit card debt actually fell last quarter, down from an all-time record. If that sounds like relief, look at what people are actually paying to carry that debt before you celebrate.
Sponsored by Porter & Co.
I've been working with Porter Stansberry for over 20 years.
I was there when his warning about destruction of the dollar's purchasing power – The End of America – went viral…
And when he predicted that COVID-era money-printing would trigger the worst inflation in a generation.
But this might be the most explosive story he's ever broken – a bombshell monetary reset that nobody has told you about or prepared you for.
I’ll be sharing this video with my friends, my folks and everyone who’s financial future I care about.
If you have savings in the bank or any money in the market – you need to make time for this immediately.
In Porter’s new documentary, you'll discover:
- How the last time America reset its money like this it created an average of 1,300 millionaires every day – while quietly ruining the wealth of millions more
- Why you'll be forced to use this new money – whether you support it or not
- How the most popular investments of the last decade could be among the worst bets of the new monetary order
- Why most Americans will end up on the wrong side of this reset – and the one move that could determine which side you land on
- Five assets Porter believes sit at the very heart of what's unfolding – and why a critical event in December could send them surging
Jared Kelly
CEO, Porter & Co.
A Small Dip From an All-Time High
Americans owed $1.252 trillion on credit cards in the first quarter of this year, according to the New York Fed, down from an all-time record of $1.277 trillion the quarter before, the highest balance since the Fed began tracking this data in 1999. A dip after the holiday spending season is normal and happens most years. This one is coming down from the single highest balance ever recorded.
Rates Never Came Down
While the total balance eased slightly, the cost of carrying it did not. The average interest rate across all credit cards sits at 20.94%, and for cards actually accruing interest, it's running at 22.15%. New card offers now average 23.79%. Credit cards are the only major category of household debt where rates have stayed above 20% while balances remain near record levels, and that combination is what makes this moment different from past stretches of high consumer debt.
The Average Person Owes More, Not Less
Even as the national total dipped, the average individual cardholder balance actually rose to $6,519, up 2.3% from a year earlier. A falling total combined with a rising average balance per person is possible when enough people pay off cards entirely while everyone still carrying a balance owes a bit more than before. Neither trend describes broad relief.
Final Take
Americans paid $253 billion in credit card interest and fees last year alone, more than three times the $75 billion paid back in 2021. That's the number that actually reflects what this debt costs households right now, and it kept climbing even as the headline balance ticked down. A small quarterly dip in the total is real, but at rates above 20%, it takes a lot more than one modest decline to meaningfully change what carrying a credit card balance costs your household every month.
Written by Deniss Slinkins
Millionaire Core
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