Women, Independent Voters Push Credit Card Confidence Lower in July
Credit card confidence dipped slightly in July, with women and independent voters primarily driving the decline, according to the latest LendingTree Credit Card Confidence Index.
Every month since September 2018, LendingTree has asked a nationally representative sample of credit cardholders the following: “Think about all of your credit cards. On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being very confident, 1 being not at all confident), how confident are you that you can pay the entire monthly statement balance on all of those cards in full this month?” Those who responded with 4s and 5s were called confident, while those who responded with 1s or 2s were deemed not confident.
Here’s what you need to know about this month’s data.
Key findings
- Credit card confidence dipped in July. 61% of cardholders say they’re confident in their ability to pay their credit cards’ monthly statement balances in full this month. That’s a three-point decrease from last month and the third decrease in the past five months. More than 1 in 5 cardholders (22%) say they aren’t confident.
- Just half of cardholding women today say they’re confident in paying their credit cards’ monthly statement balances in full this month. 50% of female cardholders express confidence, down seven points from June. As a result, the gender gap is the highest it’s been in 2024, as 72% of male cardholders express confidence.
- Gen Z cardholders show the highest cardholder confidence, while Gen Xers still show the lowest. 69% of Gen Zers express confidence in being able to pay their credit cards’ monthly statement balances in full this month, compared with 63% of millennials, 62% of baby boomers and 55% of Gen Xers. Every generation saw at least a two-point dip in confidence in July.
- Confidence among cardholding independent voters falls sharply. 55% of those identifying as independent voters express confidence in being able to pay their credit cards’ monthly statement balances in full this month, a seven-point decrease from June. That compares with 66% of both Republicans and Democrats.
Confidence dips as volatility slows
Cardholder confidence has, frankly, been all over the place since late 2023:
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- December 2023: Down seven points
- January 2024: Up nine points
- February 2024: Up four points
- March 2024: Down five points
- April 2024: Up seven points
- May 2024: Down six points
- June 2024: Up four points
- July 2024: Down three points
However, July’s small dip could signal that this volatility is nearing an end, though I still expect some over the coming months. It marks the smallest up-or-down movement in a month since November 2023. More than 6 in 10 cardholders (61%) say they’re confident in their ability to pay their credit cards’ monthly statement balances in full this month, while 22% say they aren’t confident and 16% say they’re neither. While three points isn’t insignificant, it comes on the heels of seven straight months of bigger swings, as shown above.
Looking just at 2024 numbers, the year has been more positive for cardholder confidence than the previous year, despite July’s dip. That marks a major deviation from a trend that began after confidence peaked at 74% in October 2020. Consider the monthly averages for each of the past several years:
- 2020: 67% confident
- 2021: 66% confident
- 2022: 62% confident
- 2023: 59% confident
While those yearly average declines aren’t huge, their consistency is noteworthy. After all, multiple years of small decreases add to a larger one, and that’s what we saw through the end of 2023. However, there’s reason to believe those declines might be a thing of the past. Despite the volatility of the past several months, 2024’s monthly average is 62% confident, a significant jump from 2023 and equal to 2022.
Then, you have a significant number of cardholders who use their cards only sparingly, putting a few dollars a month on them. Those folks are probably pretty confident in paying off their statement balances, too.
If you removed the credit cardholders from those two scenarios — leaving only those who use credit cards more frequently — that confidence level would likely be well lower.
Women’s confidence plunges, expanding massive gender gap
Half of cardholding women (50%) express confidence, while 32% say they aren’t confident. That 50% is down seven points from June.
Even with that substantial drop, more women have expressed confidence in 2024 than in 2023. So far in 2024, an average of 55% of women have said they were confident, versus just 52% in 2023. What hasn’t changed, however, is that there’s a massive gender gap. In the index’s five-plus-year history, there’s never been a month in which women have been more confident about their credit card bills than men. In fact, there have only been eight months in which the gender confidence gap fell to single digits, but none since July 2021. (The gap was seven points that month, equaling the record low set in April 2021.)
In July 2024, that gap is 22 points, up seven points from June and the biggest since December 2023.
The average gap since the start of the index is 14 points.
Gen Z cardholders show the highest confidence, while Gen Xers show the lowest
The gap among age groups is generally less pronounced than the one between men and women. In July 2024, Gen Zers (ages 18 to 27) and millennials (ages 28 to 43) are the most confident in their ability to pay their monthly statement balances in full, at 69% and 63%, respectively. Baby boomers (ages 60 to 78) are close behind at 62%, while Gen Xers (ages 44 to 59) bring up the rear at 55%.
Gen X has consistently been the least likely to express confidence. The last month in which they weren’t the least confident age group was August 2022. That month, 62% of Gen Xers expressed confidence, while just 60% of millennials did the same. Prior to that, it had not happened since April 2021.
More volatility likely ahead as election uncertainty looms
As if we needed further proof, July’s events surrounding the 2024 presidential election provide unmistakable evidence that we don’t have any idea what the future holds for next week, much less six months to a year from now. This month’s survey was fielded July 15 to 17, days after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump but before President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek re-election.
Those two enormously significant events could have a seismic impact in so many ways in our country, possibly including how people feel about the economy and, by extension, their personal finances. What that impact will look like, however, is anyone’s guess, making it nearly impossible to predict what the next few months will look like for cardholder confidence. (Note: Republican and Democrat cardholder confidence is both at 66%, having risen by two points and fallen by one point, respectively. However, confidence among cardholders identifying as independent voters fell sharply, from 62% to 55%.)
One of the best things cardholders can do — whether they feel good or wobbly about their finances — is knock down their credit card debt. If you don’t, sky-high APRs mean it’ll only continue to grow.
The good news is you have options. A 0% balance transfer card might be your best weapon against high interest rates, though a personal loan can help, too.
And don’t forget that you might be able to lower your interest rate with a phone call. A June 2024 LendingTree survey found that 76% of cardholders who asked for a lower interest rate on their credit card in the past year got one, with an average rate reduction of 6.5 points. That can turn a 30.00% card into a 23.50% card or a 24.00% card into an 17.50% card. It’s absolutely worth the call.
Methodology
LendingTree commissioned QuestionPro to conduct an online survey of 2,030 U.S. credit cardholders ages 18 to 78 from July 15 to 17, 2024. The survey was administered using a nonprobability-based sample, and quotas were used to ensure the sample base represented the overall population. Researchers reviewed all responses for quality control.
We defined generations as the following ages in 2024:
- Generation Z: 18 to 27
- Millennial: 28 to 43
- Generation X: 44 to 59
- Baby boomer: 60 to 78
Media inquiries about the Credit Card Confidence Index
Want to talk to Matt — author of “Ask Questions, Save Money, Make More: How to Take Control of Your Financial Life” — about the latest Confidence Index numbers? Email him at [email protected]. You can also reach out via X at @bymattschulz or Instagram at @bymattschulz.