More Americans are charging groceries and fuel, and balances are mounting

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For millions of Americans, keeping food on the table increasingly means swiping a credit card. Groceries, gasoline and utility bills are turning into debt for households that cannot stretch paychecks far enough to cover routine costs.

Using credit cards for essentials is not unusual. But when balances cannot be paid off each month, everyday purchases can snowball into debt that takes months or even years to clear. A survey commissioned by Accredited Debt Relief found that 66% of respondents had used a credit card to buy groceries over the past year, while 29% said they relied on credit or borrowing every month just to get by.

When food and fuel are being charged and only minimum payments are made, it usually points to a budget shortfall. As the principal grows, interest charges can eventually exceed the cost of the groceries themselves.

When routine spending turns into lasting debt

Credit cards were created to make buying easier and to provide short-term borrowing. For people who pay their full statement balance every month, they can also bring rewards, purchase protections and an interest-free grace period.

The trouble starts when a credit card becomes a stand-in for income. A household that spends $800 a month on groceries and pays the balance in full typically avoids interest. But if it can only pay $600, the remaining $200 rolls over as revolving debt and carries into the next billing cycle.

If that pattern continues, the family adds $2,400 in debt over a year before interest is even counted. And once a cardholder loses the grace period that comes with paying in full, new purchases may begin accruing interest right away.

For families already stretched thin, that creates a serious problem. Food and gasoline are used up long before the debt used to buy them is repaid. Unlike borrowing for a home or another asset that can hold value, financing groceries leaves nothing behind that can be sold to offset the expense.

The Accredited Debt Relief survey suggests this is more than an occasional habit. Just 28% of respondents said they could comfortably pay their bills while still saving money, and only 14% expected to be debt-free within a year at their current repayment rate.

Credit card debt climbs to $1.26 trillion as delinquencies rise

The strain of borrowing for basic living costs is showing up in national debt data.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans owed $1.26 trillion in credit card debt at the end of the second quarter of 2026. That was $21 billion more than the previous quarter and $54 billion above the level a year earlier. Total household debt stood at about $18.8 trillion, including mortgages, auto loans, student loans and other borrowing. Overall household debt slipped slightly during the quarter, but credit card balances still rose.

During the same period, 6.97% of credit card balances moved into serious delinquency in the second quarter of 2026. Serious delinquency means payments are at least 90 days past due, and the figure reflects annualized balances newly entering that category. In an August report, New York Fed researchers found that the share of credit card balances at least 90 days delinquent increased from 7.6% in the third quarter of 2022 to 12.8% in the first quarter of 2026.

The trend data adds weight to anecdotal evidence that more people are borrowing while having less income available to pay the bills. Part of the issue is the growing number of ways debt can be taken on.

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Buy now, pay later adds another layer of household debt

Buy now, pay later services, often called BNPL, allow consumers to split purchases into installments instead of paying the full amount up front.

A typical plan breaks a purchase into four payments over six weeks, often with no interest if the borrower stays on schedule. For people with steady income and enough cash to cover the installments, these services can help smooth out timing gaps. But they can also create problems when shoppers use them for necessities they could not otherwise afford.

If someone spends $200 a week on groceries but pays only $50 in the first week, it may seem like extra breathing room. Yet a month later, that person may be paying for $200 in groceries already eaten, plus another $200 in new groceries. This kind of payment stacking becomes harder to manage when multiple BNPL providers are used at the same time.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau looked at this issue in a January 2025 study that connected BNPL loan records from six major providers with consumers’ credit files. It found that about 63% of BNPL borrowers had simultaneous loans at some point during 2021 and 2022, and around 32% had active loans from at least two providers. The CFPB also found that BNPL users tended to carry higher balances on other unsecured debt, including credit cards and personal loans.

Younger consumers were especially exposed. Among borrowers ages 18 to 24, BNPL purchases made up 28% of total unsecured consumer debt in months when they used the service. Across all age groups, the comparable share was 17%. Most BNPL users in the study also had subprime or deep-subprime credit scores.

Although many BNPL plans do not charge interest, missed payments can still lead to fees, and automatic withdrawals can trigger overdraft problems if there is not enough money in the account when an installment is due.

How to keep daily borrowing from turning into a debt crisis

The first step for households using credit for necessities is to figure out whether the borrowing is caused by a temporary cash-flow problem or by a lasting gap between income and expenses. That means totaling monthly take-home pay, essential bills, existing debt payments and recurring installment obligations.

For borrowers who can cover their living costs without adding more debt, paying more than the minimum on credit cards can lower interest charges and shorten the time it takes to pay off balances.

If you are one of the consumers who cannot afford minimum payments, it may be time to take stronger steps before falling further behind. Options include nonprofit credit counseling and debt management plans, which combine payments to participating creditors and may reduce interest rates or fees.

Debt consolidation can be another option, but replacing several balances with one loan does not fix an ongoing budget gap. Services that negotiate with creditors to reduce the amount owed, also known as debt settlement, can also help when debts have outgrown income.

The bottom line

The difference between using credit for convenience and relying on it for survival comes down to whether a household can repay what it borrows without needing to borrow again.

A credit card purchase or interest-free installment plan is not automatically a financial problem. But when next month’s paycheck is already committed to covering last month’s groceries, borrowing is no longer serving as a short-term payment tool.