Report From the Century Foundation and Protect Borrowers Reveals That 111 Million Americans Are Getting Crushed by Credit Card Bills With Sky-High Interest Rates
March 17, 2026 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new report from The Century Foundation (TCF) and Protect Borrowers reveals the shocking impact of President Donald Trump’s affordability crisis on Americans’ finances, as an analysis of consumer credit data shows that roughly half of active cardholders and 40 percent of U.S. adults are unable to pay their credit card bills in full and carry a balance from month to month. This translates to roughly 111 million people trapped in cycles of persistent debt and exposed to industry-inflated, record-high interest rates. Of that group, more than 27 million Americans can only afford the minimum payment each month.
The report additionally finds that Americans have paid a record-setting amount of interest as a result of credit card banks doubling their profit margins over the last two decades. Americans have paid a cumulative total of $2.1 trillion in credit card interest since 2010, which is more than the total amount of outstanding student debt, and the total amount of auto loan debt, owed at the end of 2025. Since President Trump took office, Americans have paid $134.5 billion more than they would have under a 10 percent interest rate cap.
“Despite promising to lower costs ‘on day one’, Donald Trump is forcing Americans to pay more on everything from groceries to utilities to health care and child care. Families are falling further behind on their bills with credit card delinquencies at their highest rate in more than a decade,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren. “Donald Trump could work with Congress to deliver on his promise to cap credit card interest rates at 10% – saving the average American with credit card debt about $900 a year. But he is too busy siding with Wall Street.”
“Skyrocketing costs have driven more people to rely on credit cards than ever before and those credit cards are carrying interest rates so high that missing a payment quickly snowballs into a catastrophe for a family,” said TCF President Julie Margetta Morgan and coauthor of the analysis. “Banks have used interest rates to pad their bottom line while 40 percent of Americans can’t keep up with their credit card bills. We need our leaders to walk the walk when it comes to reining in these massive banks and companies, not just talk the talk.”
The new report by Protect Borrowers and The Century Foundation, Interest Nation: The State of America’s Credit Card Debt Crisis, is available here.
“Grocery, utility, and health care bills are piling up, and Americans are increasingly turning to credit cards—some carrying interest rates exceeding 22 percent—just to make ends meet,” said Jennifer Zhang, Policy, Research, and Data Analyst at Protect Borrowers and coauthor of the analysis. “President Trump promised to tackle crushing credit card interest rates by January 20 of this year, but that deadline has come and gone. For every day that his administration fails to cap interest rates at 10 percent, Americans are accruing an extra $368 million in interest.”
President Trump’s economic policies have hit American households hard and contributed to an affordability catastrophe that shows no sign of waning. Indiscriminate tariffs and unchecked corporate greed have raised the cost of everything from groceries to clothing to utility bills, and the administration’s signature legislative proposal focused not on bringing down costs, but rather on lavishing generous tax cuts on big businesses and the richest Americans.
Earlier this year, in an attempt to stem his self-created affordability crisis, Trump promised that by January 20, he would cap credit card interest rates at 10% for one year, but more than a month past his self-imposed deadline, has failed to do so–and failed to address credit card interest at his lengthy State of the Union address. For every day that Trump fails to deliver on his promise to implement a 10 percent interest rate cap, American families are accruing an additional $368 million in credit card interest, according to the new analysis. Further, the Trump-controlled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has allowed the nation’s biggest banks to continue charging Americans huge credit card late fees that tally more than $17 billion annually, according to the CFPB’s own December 2025 report.
The joint TCF/Protect Borrowers analysis uncovers further troubling trends behind Americans’ increasing reliance on high-interest credit cards. A growing share of Americans have maxed out their credit cards, with the most financially precarious Americans with credit card debt already taking on historic levels of debt using other high-cost financial products. Borrowers of color are also disproportionately falling behind, exposed to inflated interest rates, and more likely to be forced to turn to alternative and more predatory sources of credit.
Further Reading
Advocates urge Congress to pass legislation to cap credit card interest rates: As Millions of Working Families Drown in $1.2 Trillion in Credit Card Debt, Historic Coalition of Civil Rights, Labor Unions, Veterans, Consumer Protection, and Borrower Advocates Come Together to Call On Congress to Advance Legislation Capping Credit Card Interest Rates at 10%
Protect Borrowers Substack on Trump credit cards and delinquency rates: Trump Credit Cards? Another Bank Handout, Just in Time for TACO Tuesday (Trump Always Chickens Out)
Protect Borrowers blog on credit card bank profits amidst the affordability crisis: Trump’s Wall Street Watchdog Confirms Working People Got Slammed By Credit Card Interest and Fees
Protect Borrowers Substack by Brian Shearer of Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator on why interest rate caps are effective: Take-Down of the Take-Down: The Bankers are Wrong About Interest Rate Caps
Protect Borrowers blog on the popularity of government action to cap credit card interest rates: What’s the deal with credit card debt?
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About Protect Borrowers
Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) is a nonprofit organization led by a team of experts, lawyers, and advocates fighting to build an economy where debt doesn’t limit opportunity. We investigate financial abuses, take predatory companies to court, and push for policies to protect working people from debt traps. We aim to deliver immediate relief to families while building power, driving systemic change, and fighting for racial and economic justice.
Learn more at protectborrowers.org or follow us on social @BorrowerJustice.
About The Century Foundation
The Century Foundation (TCF) is a progressive, independent think tank that conducts research, develops solutions, and drives policy change to make people’s lives better. We pursue economic, racial, gender, and disability equity in education, health care, and work, and promote U.S. foreign policy that fosters international cooperation, peace, and security. TCF is based in New York, with an office in Washington, D.C. Follow the organization on Twitter at @TCFdotorg and learn more at www.tcf.org.