Household debt is crushing Americans. Here's what to do

More troubling than the astronomical balances is what’s happening at the edges as loan delinquencies surge.Meanwhile, the average U.S. credit card APR is 23.77% , according to an analysis from LendingTree in February. When credit card users carry a balance each month, having sky-high interest rates makes getting out of debt even harder.Credit cards are showing an especially troubling trend, with outstanding balances reaching $1.28 trillion in Q4 2025, up 5.5% from a year ago, according to the New York Fed’s ...