Notice2026-00081
Consumer Credit Card Market Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 2025
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 7, 2026
Issuing agencies
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Abstract
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is issuing its seventh biennial Consumer Credit Card Market Report to Congress. The report includes analysis of data from several sources to examine many aspects of the consumer credit card market since the Bureau's most recent biennial report on the same subject in 2023.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 4 (Wednesday, January 7, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 7, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 504-505]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-00081]
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CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU
Consumer Credit Card Market Report of the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau, 2025
AGENCY: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
ACTION: Consumer Credit Card Market Report of the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau.
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SUMMARY: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is issuing its
seventh biennial Consumer Credit Card Market Report to Congress. The
report includes analysis of data from several sources to examine many
aspects of the consumer credit card market since the Bureau's most
recent biennial report on the same subject in 2023.
DATES: The Bureau released the 2025 Consumer Credit Card Market Report
on its website on December 30, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Martinez, Credit Card Program
Manager, Division of Research, Monitoring, and Regulations at 202-435-
7000 or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#eb8f8a85828e87c5868a999f82858e91ab888d9b89c58c849d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5430353a3d31387a393526203d3a312e14373224367a333b22">[email protected]</span></a>. If you require this document in an
alternative electronic format, please contact
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c4878294869b85a7a7a1b7b7ada6ada8adb0bd84a7a2b4a6eaa3abb2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="aeede8feecf1efcdcdcbddddc7ccc7c2c7dad7eecdc8decc80c9c1d8">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. Consumer Credit Card Market Report of the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau, 2025
1.1 Report Mandate
In May 2009, Congress passed the Credit Card Accountability
Responsibility and Disclosure Act
[[Page 505]]
(CARD Act or Act).\1\ The CARD Act made substantial changes to the
credit card market. Its stated purpose was to ``establish fair and
transparent practices related to the extension of credit'' in the
credit card marketplace.\2\ The Act mandated new disclosures and
underwriting standards, curbed certain fees, and restricted certain
interest rate increases on existing balances.\3\
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\1\ Public Law 111-24, 123 Stat. 1734 (2009).
\2\ Id.
\3\ A full summary of the CARD Act rules implemented by the
Board is at pages 11 through 13 of the Bureau's 2013 Report. See
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Card Act Report, (Oct.
1, 2013) (2013 Report), <a href="http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201309_cfpb_card-act-report.pdf">http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201309_cfpb_card-act-report.pdf</a>. The Bureau subsequently reissued
these rules without material changes in December 2011. It has since
amended the ability to pay rules and the fee harvester rules
implemented by the Board. These later changes became effective in
March and May 2013, respectively.
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Among the CARD Act's many provisions was a requirement that the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) report every
two years ``within the limits of its existing resources available for
reporting purposes'' on the consumer credit card market, including a
number of specified topics.\4\ With the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall
Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) in 2010,
that requirement passed to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
(Bureau) alongside broader responsibility for administering most of the
CARD Act's provisions. This is the seventh report published pursuant to
that obligation, building on prior reports published by the Bureau in
2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2023.\5\
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\4\ 15 U.S.C. 1616(a) (2012).
\5\ See 2013 Report, supra note 3, <a href="http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201309_cfpb_card-act-report.pdf">http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201309_cfpb_card-act-report.pdf</a>; CFPB,
The Consumer Credit Card Market (Dec. 2015) (2015 Report), <a href="http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201512_cfpb_report-the-consumer-credit-card-market.pdf">http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201512_cfpb_report-the-consumer-credit-card-market.pdf</a>; CFPB, The Consumer Credit Card Market (Dec. 2017)
(2017 Report), <a href="https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2017.pdf">https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2017.pdf</a>; CFPB, The Consumer
Credit Card Market (Aug. 2019) (2019 Report), <a href="https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2019.pdf">https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2019.pdf</a>; CFPB, The Consumer Credit Card Market (Sept.
2021) (2021 Report), <a href="https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2021.pdf">https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2021.pdf</a>; CFPB, The Consumer
Credit Card Market (Oct. 2023) (2023 Report), <a href="https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2023.pdf">https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2023.pdf</a>. The Bureau also held a conference in 2011 in
which numerous market stakeholders contributed information and
perspective on developments in the credit card market. See Press
Release, CFPB, CFPB Launches Public Inquiry on the Impact of the
CARD Act (Dec. 19, 2012), <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-launches-public-inquiry-on-the-impact-of-the-card-act">https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-launches-public-inquiry-on-the-impact-of-the-card-act</a>.
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1.2 Publication
In addition to being delivered to Congress, the full report is
available to the public on the Bureau's website at <a href="https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2025.pdf">https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-credit-card-market-report_2025.pdf</a>.
1.3 Summary of Report
The full 2025 report includes analysis of data from several sources
to examine many aspects of the consumer credit card market as of the
end of 2024. In addition to mandating the Bureau's biennial review and
report on the market, the Act also requires the Bureau to ``solicit
comment from consumers, credit card issuers, and other interested
parties'' in connection with its review.\6\ As in past years, the
Bureau has done so through a Request for Information (RFI) published in
the Federal Register, and the Bureau discusses specific evidence or
arguments provided by commenters throughout the report.\7\
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\6\ 15 U.S.C. 1616(b) (2012).
\7\ Request for Information Regarding Consumer Credit Card
Market, 90 FR 5831 (Jan. 17, 2025), <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/CFPB-2025-0004-0001">https://www.regulations.gov/document/CFPB-2025-0004-0001</a>.
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Continuing past practice, the 2025 report revisits most of the same
baseline indicators as prior reports to track key market developments
and trends. Below is a summary of the core findings of the report.
<bullet> Use of credit: Credit card debt at the end of 2024
exceeded $1.2 trillion. Purchase volume grew to $3.6 trillion in 2024,
up from $3.2 trillion in 2022. The share of cardholders making only the
minimum payment is at its highest since at least 2015. Delinquencies
and charge-offs reached historically high levels in early 2024 but have
since fallen to pre-pandemic levels.
<bullet> Cost of credit: In 2024, the average annual percentage
rate (APR) reached 25.2 percent for general purpose cards and 31.3
percent for private label credit cards, the highest level since at
least 2015. In 2024, consumers were assessed $160 billion in interest
charges, up from $105 billion in 2022. This increase was driven by
higher APRs, a 9.5 percent increase in cardholders, and an 18 percent
increase in the average monthly credit card balance per cardholder.
<bullet> Credit card product innovation: The use of alternative
data, such as bank account cash flow information, is helping to expand
credit card access to consumers, particularly for those with limited
credit history. AI is also accelerating the incidence and seriousness
of payments-related fraud.
<bullet> Availability of credit: In 2024, U.S. consumers submitted
over 153 million credit card applications, a decrease from applications
exceeding 160 million in 2022 and 2023. New account originations
declined 19 percent from 2022 to 89 million new accounts in 2024. Total
credit line across all consumer credit cards increased to over $5.7
trillion.
<bullet> Disputes: In 2024, cardholders disputed $9.8 billion in
credit card charges, resulting in $5.9 billion in chargebacks. For
general purpose cards, the most common reason for a dispute is a
cancelled recurring transaction, like subscriptions, membership fees,
and utility bills, which made up 40 percent of all disputes.
1.4 Regulatory Agenda
The Bureau is not proposing any new or revised regulations related
to consumer credit cards at this time because the Bureau currently is
focusing on deregulation and reconsideration of rulemakings, as the
Bureau has noted in its public rulemaking agenda.
Geoffrey C. Gradler,
Deputy Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
[FR Doc. 2026-00081 Filed 1-6-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-AM-P
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