The cost of consumer credit is rising. The average interest rate on a US credit card rose +0.2 percentage points in August, to 22.36%, its highest level in 12 months. This is now only 1.0 percentage point below the record 23.37% set in August 2024. Since 2021, the average credit card interest rate has surged +6.5 percentage points. By comparison, the 5-year average before the 2020 pandemic was 14.94%. Meanwhile, the average interest rate on a 5-year new car loan rose +0.4 percentage points in August, to 7.54%, its highest since August 2025. This is 3.5 percentage points above pre-pandemic levels, but 0.9 percentage points below its all-time high of 8.4%, recorded in August 2024. Consumer borrowing has rarely been this expensive.