The CFPB remains in flux, but it met its requirement to report on the credit card industry. Although the report is typically produced mid-year for the prior year, the requirement was met when it was published on December 30, 2025.
The report is full of relevant industry metrics that indicate the business is operating effectively. You can find the 191-page missive here. We identified 12 key items that provide a clear view of what is happening in U.S. Payments.
Where People Use Their Credit Cards and the Balances They Carry
- The top 5 spend categories were retailers ($743 billion), professional and financial services ($646 billion), food and groceries ($319 billion), restaurants ($317 billion), and transportation/travel services ($238 billion).
- Superprime credit card users carried the lowest amount of monthly cycle-ending balances, at $2,551 as of July 2024. This was up from $2,045 in July 2014. Weaker-scored segments increased more substantially, with Deep Subprime surging from $3,480 to $5,484, and Subprime rising from $3,562 to $5,960 during the period between 2014 and 2024.
- The average APR for a Superprime cardholder went from 15.1% in Q1 2015 to 23.1% in Q4 2024. Cards were much pricier for lower-scoring segments, with Deep Subprime rising from 22.1% to 29.1% over the same period.
Payment Habits Were Healthier
- In 2015, 36.3% of cardholders paid their total balance; in 2024, the metric hit a lofty 42.5%.
- For minimum due payers, only 5.5% of super prime paid the minimum due only, versus Subprime, with a whopping 30.9%.
- Persistent debt, those dollars that languished for more than a year, affected 41.1% of Subprime and Deep Subprime, and only 2.4% of Superprime.
Fewer Bank and Credit Union Issuers
- 1,146 banks carried credit card balances in 2015. The number plummeted to 724 in 2024. Credit union issuers fell from 3,614 down to 2,972.
- Distribution of card balances by issuer size was constant, with 83.6% of the top ten issuers controlling the market, and 11.4% of those ranked between 21 and 40. All other issuers only affected 5.0% of balances.
- Big issuers had stronger portfolios. Those over $100 billion accounted for 94.9% of Superprime credit scores, compared with 5.1% for issuers under $100 billion. For Subprime and Deep Subprime, smaller banks held a 67.4% share, while larger issuers accounted for only 32.6%.
Javelin Research Cited by CFPB
- The CFPB cited two pieces of Javelin research in this critical report.
- Javelin’s 2023 Identity Fraud study was used to size the time-consuming impact of new account fraud resolution. The agency also cited Reducing Operational Risk Through Careful Credit Line Decreases, as part of a risk-averse credit card risk strategy.
What This Means to Credit Card Issuers
2026 should be a year of “full speed ahead,” assuming the economy continues to be strong. Anticipated tax refunds should help many clear debt, and transaction volumes should increase as consumer confidence in the economy grows. For small issuers, be careful. Offers must be more competitive to attract the best cardholders, and consumers are poised for a healthy payments year.
