All indications are that 2026 credit card growth is upward, healthy, and under control, but watch out for rapid growth in unsecured installment loans. The good news is that these loans transfer high-risk credit card receivables to installment lenders. The bad news is that the growth is a subtle indicator of stress in household budgets.
Credit Bureaus Report High Growth
Credit reporting agency Equifax reported a 24.1% increase in unsecured consumer installment loans in December 2025, compared to the prior year, with 15 million loans totaling $ 62.6 billion. Seven million of those loans were classified as subprime.
Credit card loan volumes are growing steadily, tipping the scales at $1.3 trillion in December 2025. Revolving volumes often show a bump in December because of holiday shopping. The longstanding trend is that card volumes increase with holiday spending, then when tax refunds hit in March and April, some debt gets extinguished.
But when card volumes head a steady course, and installment loans surge, an alarm bell should ring.
Ring, Ring, Ring
Consumers often use consolidation loans to pay down debt. Clever borrowers, or those with less debt, will use zero-interest credit card balance transfers. Here, they pay a 3% to 5% fee and enjoy an interest-free loan for a year. (See this report for a deep-dive on how Balance Transfers affect the card revenue model.)
Here’s the problem, though. Once the unsecured loan is approved, consumers can either keep a chunk for their household budgets and end up owing more than they started with. Or they can pay down their credit cards, keep their lines open, and juggle the new installment loan payment as they run up the card.
Neither a Borrower nor a Lender Be
Hey, I am cheap, and I save. I learned a long time ago that the dollars you bank, whether in a passbook account or a 401K, will serve you well in later years. Interest compounds, and a little pain now makes for a brighter future.
But most people don’t, and if you look at the Federal Reserve’s current numbers, we save only 3.6% of what we earn. That is much better than the historic low point of 1.4% clocked in July 2005, but much worse than the ’70s and ’80s, when the metric typically stood at 8% to 10%.
A Message to Credit Policy Managers
Credit card numbers are moving in the right direction, but be wary. When unsecured loans are booming, and when credit volumes are plodding along, keep a watchful eye on balance paydowns. When savings rates are lower, a subtle trend is brewing. Some people are juggling their credit obligations. Don’t be shy about collapsing some credit lines, as we suggest in this classic Javelin report.
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