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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).