A new AARP survey suggests nearly half (47%) of adults 50 and older who carry credit card debt use their cards to pay for necessities like health care, car payments and housing. Some 17% admitted they charged expenses to cover gaps in their budget every single month last year, putting them deeper in the red.

As the cost of living has increased, so has outstanding credit card debt. By the end of December 2024, outstanding credit card balances reached $1.21 trillion, according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York data.

New bipartisan legislation has been introduced to immediately enforce an interest rate cap of 10 percent on credit cards.

Americans defaulted on $59 billion in credit card debt and took on an additional $74 billion in credit card debt.

Borrowers should recognize these early warning signs to address credit card debt before it becomes unmanageable.

At the moment, U.S. credit card debt jumped by $45 billion in the fourth quarter to $1.21 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve, as reported by Forbes.com. While the central bank did not provide a breakdown,