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By Credit and Collection News Staff
Credit card delinquencies continued to edge upward in the second quarter of 2026, underscoring the uneven financial pressure facing U.S. households even as lenders reopen the credit spigot.
TransUnion reported that 2.26% of bankcard borrowers were at least 90 days past due in the second quarter, up from 2.17% a year earlier. The increase was driven largely by expansion in the subprime borrower population, though the rate improved modestly from the prior quarter on a seasonal basis.
The latest figures present a mixed picture for creditors and collectors: consumer-level distress is increasing, but balance-weighted delinquency remains comparatively stable. That distinction suggests more consumers are missing payments, while lenders’ risk-management practices—such as smaller lines and tighter underwriting—may be limiting the dollar exposure attached to delinquent accounts.
More credit, more exposure
U.S. consumers held $18.6 trillion in outstanding credit balances in the second quarter, up 2.8% year over year, according to TransUnion. The number of consumers carrying a balance rose 2.4% to 261.7 million.
Bankcard balances increased 4.4% from a year earlier to $1.14 trillion, while bankcard originations rose 11.8% to 20.6 million. TransUnion said issuers have moved into a more growth-oriented posture following more than a year of tighter lending, increasing acquisition activity and opening credit lines across risk tiers.
That expansion is especially consequential in the non-prime segment. A growing subprime population helped lift the share of borrowers reaching late-stage bankcard delinquency, TransUnion said. For issuers, the development reinforces the need to separate portfolio-level charge-off and balance performance from borrower-level deterioration when assessing credit quality.
The measure matters
The 2.26% bankcard figure measures the proportion of borrowers who are 90 or more days delinquent. It should not be confused with TransUnion’s balance-level delinquency measure, which tracks the share of outstanding balances that are past due.
In the second quarter, bankcard balance-level delinquency was 1.98%, down two basis points year over year. In practical terms, this means the share of dollars in delinquency did not rise in tandem with the share of consumers who became seriously delinquent.
That divergence may reflect smaller initial credit lines, lower loan amounts, and more targeted underwriting for riskier accounts. It may also indicate that early-stage stress is occurring among borrowers with smaller balances rather than among the largest revolving-credit exposures. However, a sustained rise in borrower-level 90-plus-day delinquency can still foreshadow additional collection volume and future losses if affordability conditions worsen.
Pressure extends beyond cards
Affordability challenges are apparent across several consumer-credit products.
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Auto loans: Serious, account-level auto delinquency—60 or more days past due—was 1.33%, two basis points higher than a year earlier. The pace of deterioration slowed, but new-vehicle monthly payments were 38.7% higher than in 2019 and used-vehicle payments were 39.6% higher, outpacing both inflation and wage gains, TransUnion said.
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Mortgages: Borrower-level mortgage delinquency at 60 or more days past due reached 1.56%, an increase of 29 basis points from the prior year. FHA loans represented nearly half of seriously delinquent mortgage accounts, concentrating risk among more financially vulnerable borrowers.
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Unsecured personal loans: Outstanding balances reached a record $281 billion, up 9.6% year over year, with originations rising 19.5%. Growth was led by subprime and super-prime borrowers, while lenders reduced the average size of new subprime loans by 6.8%.
The data point to a consumer market in which aggregate borrowing remains manageable for many households, but financial resilience is far from evenly distributed.
Collection implications
For collection agencies, creditors, and debt buyers, the emerging pattern calls for more granular segmentation. Rising late-stage delinquency among borrowers does not necessarily mean a proportional increase in balance severity, but it can expand the number of accounts requiring outreach, repayment arrangements, hardship review, or placement.
Creditors should closely monitor roll rates, payment behavior after minimum-payment changes, utilization trends, and performance within recently expanded subprime vintages. Collection strategies may also need to account for consumers juggling multiple affordability pressures—auto payments, housing costs, revolving-card debt, and unsecured installment obligations—rather than treating a delinquent account as an isolated event.
TransUnion characterized the broader market as disciplined, noting that non-mortgage minimum payments grew only 1% to 3% year over year across most risk tiers, and 3.5% among prime consumers. Still, the rise in borrower-level serious delinquency shows that the affordability strain affecting vulnerable consumers has not fully abated.
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