Overview
- Balances financed on credit cards reached $21.9 trillion in October, up 1.3% month over month in nominal terms and 63.4% year over year, with a 1.2% real monthly drop and a 24.2% real annual rise.
- Central Bank data show credit-card use surpassed debit in August with 180.4 million credit operations versus 178 million debit and transaction amounts of $9.4 trillion against $4.7 trillion.
- Credit-card transactions expanded from 13.3% of card operations in 2022 to 46.2% in 2025, signaling a structural shift in how households pay.
- The BCRA’s Financial Inclusion report counts 14.6 million credit-card debtors, equal to 39.6% of adults, after a 4% increase in the first half of 2025.
- Financing remains costly, with Banco Macro listing a 105.30% TNA and a 127.41% annual CFT for card purchases, while growing reliance on minimum payments heightens the risk of punitive charges and persistent debt.