Credit card charge-off rate, all banks
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System · quarterly · 166 observations
85th highest of 166 quarters since Q1 1985 (tied with 1 quarter; Fed charge-off release full history); peak 10.54% in Q4 2009; lowest since Q3 2023 (tied with Q1 2026).
±0.00 pp vs prior quarter−0.37 pp vs a year earlier
Source: Federal Reserve Board
About this series
What it measures
The share of credit card balances at U.S. commercial banks that banks wrote off as uncollectible during the quarter, net of recoveries, at an annual rate.
Why it matters
It shows how much card debt is actually going bad, which reflects household financial stress and drives bank losses.
Common misreads
Charge-offs lag: card balances are generally written off only after months of missed payments, and this rate reflects trouble that began earlier. It covers banks only, not all card lenders. Accounting changes in 2010 (FAS 166/167) brought securitized card loans onto bank balance sheets, so pre-2010 rates are not strictly like-for-like.