Personal Loan Industry Statistics 2026: Market Size and Trends

US consumers held a record $276 billion in unsecured personal loans across 26.4 million borrowers in Q4 2025, according to TransUnion. That is the largest aggregate balance the unsecured product has carried in the post-pandemic cycle, and it landed alongside a 60+ days past due delinquency rate of 3.99%, the largest year-over-year jump since early 2023.

The market also looks structurally different from what it did three years ago. FinTech lenders held 42% of unsecured personal loan originations in Q3 2025, up from roughly one-third a year earlier, and subprime borrowers led origination growth with a 32.5% year-over-year increase. The data below covers market size, balances, interest rates by credit tier, delinquency, state-level shifts, purpose breakdown, and how Buy Now Pay Later sits next to traditional installment lending.

Key Takeaways

• US unsecured personal loan balances hit a record $276 billion in Q4 2025, up from $251 billion a year earlier, per TransUnion’s Q4 2025 CIIR.
• 26.4 million consumers carried an unsecured personal loan balance at year-end 2025, an 8% increase from 24.5 million a year earlier.
• The 60+ DPD delinquency rate climbed to 3.99% in Q4 2025 from 3.57% a year earlier – the steepest year-over-year increase since early 2023.
• Average debt per borrower stayed essentially flat at $11,699 in Q4 2025 compared with $11,607 in Q4 2024, despite the record aggregate balance.
• Unsecured personal loan originations reached a record 7.2 million in Q3 2025, with FinTech lenders capturing 42% of new volume.
• Consumers held an average personal loan balance of $19,333 in September 2025 across Experian’s combined secured-plus-unsecured measure, a 1.7% increase year over year.
• Total household debt rose to $18.79 trillion in Q1 2026, with the “Other” category that contains personal loans at $562 billion, per the New York Fed.

Editor’s Choice

• US unsecured personal loan balances: $276 billion (Q4 2025) – TransUnion.
• Total personal loans on Experian credit reports: 67.5 million entering 2026, up 7% from 63.2 million in 2024.
• Average personal loan APR for 720+ borrowers: 15.08% in Q4 2025 – LendingTree closed-loan data.
• Average personal loan APR for 560-579 borrowers: 31.84% in Q4 2025.
• Finance rate on 24-month commercial bank personal loans: 11.40% in February 2026, per FRED series TERMCBPER24NS.
• Buy Now Pay Later originations across the six largest lenders: 335.8 million loans worth $45.2 billion in 2023, per the CFPB.
• US consumers with a personal loan on their credit reports: 38% as of early 2026, per Experian.

Recent Developments

• May 12, 2026 – The New York Fed’s Q1 2026 Household Debt and Credit Report shows total household debt at $18.79 trillion; “Other” debt (which includes personal loans and BNPL) at $562 billion.
• May 7, 2026 – The Federal Reserve G.19 release reports consumer credit grew at a 3.2% seasonally adjusted annual rate in Q1 2026, with nonrevolving credit at $3,803.6 billion in March.
• April 7, 2026 – FRED publishes the February 2026 finance rate on 24-month personal loans at commercial banks: 11.40%, down from 11.65% in November 2025.
• February 27, 2026 – Experian reports 67.5 million personal loans on US credit reports heading into 2026, with Chris Horymski noting a 16% increase in personal loan hard inquiries year over year.
• February 19, 2026 – TransUnion’s Q4 2025 CIIR confirms unsecured personal loans on pace for a third consecutive year of growth, with subprime balances up 17% YoY.
• December 10, 2025 – TransUnion’s 2026 forecast projects unsecured personal loan 60+ DPD delinquency at 3.75% (+1 basis point YoY).

Total Personal Loan Market Size

• TransUnion reports total unsecured personal loan balances at a record $276 billion in Q4 2025, compared with $251 billion in Q4 2024.
• Unsecured balances have grown from $222 billion in Q4 2022 to $276 billion in Q4 2025 across four straight years of expansion.
• Experian’s broader measure (including secured personal loans) puts total personal loan balances at $597.6 billion in 2025, up 7.6% year over year.
• Experian separates the market into $207.1 billion in unsecured balances (7.4% YoY growth) and $390.4 billion in secured personal loans (7.8% YoY growth) in 2025.
• The New York Fed’s “Other” debt category, which includes personal loans and BNPL, stood at $0.562 trillion at the end of Q1 2026, with a net annual increase of $20 billion.
• Total US consumer credit outstanding stood at $5,140.5 billion in March 2026, with nonrevolving credit at $3,803.6 billion and revolving credit at $1,337.0 billion.
• The bureau-level gap between TransUnion’s $276 billion unsecured-only figure and Experian’s $597.6 billion combined figure reflects scope differences, not market disagreement.

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Number of Americans with Personal Loans

• 26.4 million consumers carried an unsecured personal loan balance in Q4 2025, up from 24.5 million in Q4 2024 and 22.5 million in Q4 2022.
• TransUnion reports 32.7 million unsecured personal loan accounts open in Q4 2025, up from 29.6 million a year earlier.
• Heading into 2026, 67.5 million personal loans appear on US credit reports, up 7% from 63.2 million in 2024, per Experian.
• 38% of US consumers have a personal loan on their credit reports.
• Personal loan applications drove a 16% year-over-year increase in hard inquiries in 2025, reflecting heavier demand even as average balances stayed flat.
• The gap between Experian’s 67.5 million account count and TransUnion’s 32.7 million unsecured-account count reflects the inclusion of secured personal loans in Experian’s measure. For comparable household-debt scope across loan types, see CoinLaw’s student loan statistics coverage.

Average Personal Loan Balance and Account Size

• TransUnion reports average debt per borrower at $11,699 in Q4 2025, essentially flat against $11,607 a year earlier.
• The average account balance was $8,421 in Q4 2025, down slightly from $8,496 in Q4 2024.
• Experian’s broader measure shows an average personal loan balance of $19,333 in September 2025, a 1.7% increase from 2024.
• Per-borrower debt has hovered in the $11,116 to $11,773 band since Q4 2022, even as the count of borrowers expanded by roughly 4 million over that window.
• The methodology gap matters: TransUnion isolates unsecured product-level debt per borrower; Experian counts combined secured plus unsecured personal loans per consumer.
• Excluding mortgages, average consumer debt across all credit-reportable categories fell 3.3% in 2025 to $21,603, per Experian.
• Dividing TransUnion’s aggregate unsecured balance by the count of consumers carrying balances produces an arithmetic average slightly below the reported per-borrower figure, reflecting the methodology of excluding paid-down stragglers in the official series.

Personal Loan Interest Rates and APR by Credit Tier

• The Federal Reserve’s finance rate on 24-month commercial bank personal loans was 11.40% in February 2026, the most recent published value.
• That rate was 11.65% in November 2025, reflecting the moderate Fed easing cycle entering 2026.
• LendingTree’s Q4 2025 closed-loan data shows an average APR of 15.08% for borrowers with credit scores of 720 or higher.
• Borrowers with credit scores of 560 to 579 saw an average APR of 31.84% in Q4 2025, the highest tier in LendingTree’s data.
• The average APR on new credit card offers reached 23.77% as of February 2026, with minimum and maximum rates between 20.12% and 27.38%.
• For prime borrowers (720+), personal loans now price well below credit cards; for subprime borrowers, the relationship inverts.

Personal Loan Origination Volume Trends

• Unsecured personal loan originations reached a record 7.2 million in Q3 2025, the second consecutive quarter of new highs.
• That compares with 5.8 million in Q3 2024, 5.0 million in Q3 2023, and 5.6 million in Q3 2022.
• Near-prime and super-prime origination volumes each rose 21.5% year over year in Q3 2025.
• Personal loan hard inquiries climbed 16% in 2025 compared with 2024 across the Experian panel.
• Unsecured personal loans are on pace for a third consecutive year of annual growth heading into 2026.

Personal Loan Delinquency Rates

• The consumer-level 60+ days past due delinquency rate rose to 3.99% in Q4 2025 from 3.57% a year earlier – the largest year-over-year increase since early 2023.
• That delinquency rate has tracked 3.57%, 3.90%, and 4.14% in Q4 2024, Q4 2023, and Q4 2022 respectively.
• Experian’s measure of unsecured personal loan accounts 30 or more days past due has hovered near 4% since 2024.
• Across all US household debt, 4.8% of outstanding balances sat in some stage of delinquency in Q1 2026, per the NY Fed.
• Delinquency rose across all risk tiers, with subprime showing the sharpest increase at about half a percentage point.
• More Americans are turning to unsecured personal loans, and lenders are responding by increasing originations even as overall delinquency has held steady. said Josh Turnbull, senior vice president and consumer lending business leader at TransUnion.

Subprime Personal Loan Growth and FinTech Lender Share

FinTech lenders led by SoFi’s lending business have captured a growing share of unsecured personal loan originations.

• Subprime borrowers led origination expansion with a 32.5% year-over-year increase in Q3 2025.
• Subprime balance growth also outpaced the market at 17% year over year in Q4 2025.
• FinTech lenders held 42% of unsecured personal loan originations in Q3 2025, up from roughly one-third a year earlier.
• Near-prime and super-prime origination growth each ran at 21.5% in Q3 2025, meaningfully behind subprime.
• Vintage data indicate new accounts originated in Q1 and Q2 2025 are going delinquent at a lower rate than in prior years, particularly within subprime.

By the numbers: Per TransUnion’s Q4 2025 CIIR, subprime originations grew 32.5% year over year while subprime balances rose 17% and FinTech lenders captured 42% of origination volume. The same vintage data shows newer subprime cohorts performing better than older ones, even as the headline 60+ DPD rate climbed to 3.99% – tightening underwriting hidden inside a deteriorating top-line number.

• The pattern looks paradoxical only if you ignore the gap between back-book paper still aging through delinquency and front-book paper underwritten under stricter FinTech models.
• Recent vintages also show newer subprime loans outperforming older cohorts, while super-prime performance has deteriorated slightly. said Josh Turnbull.

Personal Loan Debt by US State

• Average personal loan debt grew 5.0% nationally year over year, ahead of average mortgage (4.8%), “other” debt (2.4%), and credit card debt (2.3%).
• Average personal loan balances rose in 39 states over that window, per LendingTree’s analysis of about 400,000 anonymized credit reports.
• West Virginia recorded the largest state-level spike, where the average personal loan balance jumped 32.4% from $3,994 to $5,290 year over year.
• Indiana and Kansas followed at 19.7% and 19.1% YoY increases, respectively.
• Across the country, average total debt climbed 3.7% from $134,495 to $139,659 year over year, a gain of $5,164.
• Idaho saw the largest aggregate-debt increase at 2.3%, driven by mortgage balances in Experian’s state-level cut.

Key finding: LendingTree’s December 2025 analysis of roughly 400,000 anonymized credit reports found average personal loan debt climbed 5.0% nationally, the fastest pace among six debt categories. West Virginia led with a 32.4% spike from $3,994 to $5,290 per borrower, while Indiana and Kansas trailed at 19.7% and 19.1% YoY growth.

What Personal Loans Are Used For

• Over 51.4% of LendingTree users with personal loans intend to pay down debt.
• Within debt-payoff use, 40.1% of borrowers cited general debt consolidation, and 11.3% cited credit card refinancing specifically.
• Paying everyday bills accounted for 10.8% of personal loan purposes.
• Home improvements made up 6.6% of stated personal loan uses.
• The 51.4% debt-consolidation share aligns with the spread between the average personal loan APR for 720+ borrowers (15.08%) and the average credit card APR (23.77% as of February 2026).
• A prime borrower refinancing a maxed credit card into a personal loan can save roughly 870 basis points on the spread alone, before factoring in fixed-payment discipline.

Personal Loans vs Credit Card Debt Comparison

• US credit card balances stood at $1.25 trillion at the end of Q1 2026, down $25 billion from Q4 2025.
• Unsecured personal loan balances were $276 billion in Q4 2025, or roughly one-fifth the size of the credit card market.
• Average personal loan APR for prime borrowers (720+ credit score) was 15.08% in Q4 2025, versus an average credit card APR of 23.77% in February 2026.
• Total US credit card balances rose by $70 billion year over year through Q1 2026, versus $25 billion year-over-year growth in unsecured personal loans.
• Personal loans carry fixed payments and amortization schedules; revolving products such as credit card processing instruments carry variable balances and revolving terms.

Buy Now Pay Later as an Adjacent Unsecured-Lending Category

• The six largest US buy now, pay later lenders surveyed by the CFPB originated 335.8 million loans totaling $45.2 billion, per the most recent annual data window.
• The average BNPL loan size was $135 when adjusted for inflation.
• 53.6 million US consumers took out at least one BNPL loan in 2023, a 12% increase from 2022.
• Across the same six lenders, loan count rose 23% and dollar volume rose 26% year over year (inflation-adjusted).
• BNPL origination volume across the surveyed lenders climbed from 19.8 million loans at the start of the CFPB tracking window to 335.8 million at the end, a 17x expansion across four reporting years.
• BNPL credit functions as small-ticket installment lending, distinct from short-term payday loans, and sits alongside traditional personal loans in the NY Fed’s “Other” debt bucket.

Personal Loan Forecast

• TransUnion forecasts the unsecured personal loan 60+ DPD delinquency rate at 3.75% in 2026, a 1 basis point increase year over year.
• The forecast assumes inflation remains above target at 2.45% and unemployment rises slightly to 4.5% by late 2026.
• TransUnion projects unsecured personal loans on pace for a third consecutive year of annual growth entering 2026.
• The finance rate on 24-month commercial bank personal loans eased to 11.40% in February 2026 from 11.65% in November 2025.
• With FinTech share at 42% of originations and prime APRs roughly 8 percentage points below credit cards, the structural case for personal loans as a debt-consolidation tool is stronger entering 2026 than at any point in the post-pandemic cycle.

Common Questions

What is the average personal loan amount in 2026?

The average unsecured personal loan debt per borrower was $11,699 in Q4 2025, per TransUnion. Experian’s broader measure, which includes secured personal loans, puts the average per-consumer balance at $19,333 as of September 2025. The gap reflects scope, not market disagreement: TransUnion isolates unsecured product debt, while Experian counts combined secured plus unsecured balances per consumer.

What is the average personal loan interest rate in 2026?

The Federal Reserve’s finance rate on 24-month commercial bank personal loans was 11.40% in February 2026, the most recent published value. LendingTree’s Q4 2025 closed-loan data shows borrowers with 720+ scores averaged 15.08% APR, while borrowers in the 560-579 band averaged 31.84%. The average credit card APR was 23.77% as of February 2026, placing prime personal loan rates roughly 8 percentage points lower.

Which state has the highest personal loan growth?

West Virginia led all states with a 32.4% year-over-year increase in average personal loan balance, jumping from $3,994 to $5,290, per LendingTree’s analysis of about 400,000 anonymized credit reports. Indiana followed at +19.7% and Kansas at +19.1%. Average personal loan balances rose in 39 of 50 states over that window.

Conclusion

US consumers carried a record $276 billion in unsecured personal loans across 26.4 million borrowers at the end of 2025, with the 60+ DPD delinquency rate climbing to 3.99% even as FinTech lenders captured 42% of new origination volume. The market is growing faster on the front book than the back book is deteriorating, and the spread between prime personal loan APRs and credit card rates has rebuilt the structural case for debt consolidation that drives roughly half of all new applications.

Prime borrowers refinancing high-rate credit card balances stand to capture the cleanest economics, while subprime borrowers face APRs above 30% and the highest delinquency exposure. Lenders with FinTech underwriting are testing whether tighter front-book vintages can outrun the legacy delinquency drag – the answer determines whether the $276 billion balance milestone holds through 2026.