While 185 million Americans have at least one credit card, only 144 million consumers have at least one bank credit card. Over the past 10 years the average revolving bank credit card balance per carded American household has more than doubled from $2,942 to $7,519. Compared to 1980, when 55% of American households had bank credit cards, average balances have grown fourteen times. Today 79 million households, or 75%, have at least one general-purpose bank credit card.
| Bank Credit Card Annual Revolving Balances Per Carded Households* |
|---|
| (VISA, MasterCard, Discover, American Express) |
|---|
| YEAR | TOTAL |
|---|
| 1980 | $518 |
|---|
| 1981 | 542 |
|---|
| 1982 | 588 |
|---|
| 1983 | 719 |
|---|
| 1984 | 952 |
|---|
| 1985 | 1209 |
|---|
| 1986 | 1370 |
|---|
| 1987 | 1622 |
|---|
| 1988 | 1899 |
|---|
| 1989 | 2222 |
|---|
| 1990 | 2549 |
|---|
| 1991 | 2694 |
|---|
| 1992 | 2848 |
|---|
| 1993 | 2942 |
|---|
| 1994 | 3813 |
|---|
| 1995 | 4587 |
|---|
| 1996 | 5218 |
|---|
| 1997 | 5495 |
|---|
| 1998 | 5557 |
|---|
| 1999 | 5709 |
|---|
| 2000 | 6549 |
|---|
| 2001 | 6948 |
|---|
| 2002 | 7462 |
|---|
| 2003 | 7519 |
|---|
- excludes balances paid-off before interest accrues; also excludes commercial cards, debit cards and private label credit cards
|
|---|
SOURCE: CardData (www.carddata.com).
