Americans Refuse to Cancel Summer Trips — But 1 in 3 Who Put It On Credit Are Still Paying Off Last Year’s Vacation
Last updated 08/21/2026 by
SuperMoney Team
Edited by
Andrew Latham
Summary:
Summer’s winding down and the credit card statements are showing up. More than 1 in 3 travelers who charged last summer’s trip to a card still haven’t paid it off, and the average rate on balances that accrue interest just ticked up to 22.15%. Carry the typical $3,940 trip for a year at that rate and you’ll hand your card issuer about $490 for nothing. Here’s how to kill the balance before holiday spending piles on top of it, and why the famous fall travel discount is smaller than you think.
More than 1 in 3 Americans who put last summer’s vacation on a credit card made the same mistake. They’re still paying for it. Not figuratively. NerdWallet found that 35% of travelers who charged their summer 2025 trip haven’t paid off the balance a full year later, which means some people are now accruing interest on two vacations at once.
And people will give up a lot before they give up that trip.
In Priceline’s 2026 State of Summer Travel Report:
- 83% of adults 21 and older said they’d drop alcohol before canceling a vacation,
- 45% would give up dining out, and
- 20% said they’d give up sex first.
You read that right. The vacation wins.
WalletHub’s summer survey found that 1 in 5 Americans would skip a credit card payment before skipping a vacation.
Now the bills are landing, so the question has changed. It’s no longer whether you should travel. It’s whether you’ll still be paying for this summer next spring.
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The bills are already showing up in the national numbers
This isn’t a prediction.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest Household Debt and Credit report, released August 11, shows:
- Credit card balances rose $21 billion in the second quarter to $1.26 trillion,
- up $54 billion over the past year.
- Roughly 7% of that card debt is seriously delinquent, meaning 90 or more days past due.
Translation: the summer swipes are hitting the ledger, and a meaningful chunk of the country is already behind on them. If your July trip is sitting on a card right now, you have plenty of company. That’s not a reason to relax. It’s a reason to move before the interest clock does more damage.
The math on carrying a vacation balance just got worse
This is the stat that should change what you do this month. NerdWallet found that 74% of people who put last summer’s travel on a credit card did not pay it off with the first statement.
More than a third, 35%, still haven’t paid it off at all.
That’s a vacation from over a year ago quietly charging interest every single month. And WalletHub found 55% of people were already dreading the bill while they were still on the trip.
The average summer travel spend is somewhere around $3,940 for flights and lodging. The average rate on credit card accounts that accrue interest is now 22.15%, per the Federal Reserve’s latest G.19 report, released August 7.
Carry that $3,940 for a year while paying it down, and you’ll spend roughly $490 on interest. Stretch it out with minimum payments and you’ll pay far more than that, sometimes for years. A one-week trip can easily turn into an 18-month financial commitment.
None of this means the trip was a mistake. It means the way you pay it off over the next few months decides whether it was a $3,940 trip or a $4,500 one.
How to kill the balance before the holidays pile on
Holiday spending starts in about ten weeks. Debt.com’s survey work found that 46% of people who carried vacation debt said it squeezed their holiday spending, and 38% said it cut into back-to-school budgets.
That’s the trap.
Summer debt rolls into holiday debt, and by January you’re carrying both at 22%.
A few moves that actually work:
Pay it off on a schedule, not “when things free up.”
Take your actual balance and divide by the months until Thanksgiving. On the average $3,940, that’s about $1,360 a month for three months, and your total interest bill comes to roughly $145 instead of $490. Can’t swing that? About $700 a month clears it in six months and keeps interest near $260. Automate the payment the day after each paycheck lands. Willpower is not a plan.
Consider a 0% balance transfer card or a debt consolidation loan.
If the payoff will take more than a few months, a balance transfer card or a debt consolidation loan might make sense. Move $3,940 to a card with a 15-month 0% intro APR and a 3% transfer fee, and you pay $118 once instead of bleeding roughly $70 a month in interest. One warning: this only works if you stop adding charges and actually finish the payoff during the intro window. Miss that window and the rate snaps back to the low twenties.
Don’t let rewards points talk you into keeping the balance.
About 32% of travelers planned to cover costs with points or miles this summer. Points are great when you pay the statement in full. They’re a trap when you’re carrying a balance, because at 22.15% the interest wipes out any conceivable rewards rate in the first month or two.
Start next summer’s fund the same week you finish this one.
That $3,940 average works out to about $360 a month between now and next July. Set up an automatic transfer to a separate savings account and next year’s trip is paid before you book it. This is boring. It also works every time.
Let a tool find the payoff money.
Half of Americans used AI tools to hunt travel deals this year. The same instinct applies to the cleanup. SuperMoney’s app connects your checking, savings, and credit card accounts in one place, and its Sense AI assistant can show you where your money’s actually going and where there’s room to carve out an extra payment without raiding next month’s rent. Automated insights beat willpower, especially in September when the balance stops feeling urgent. Download the app, link your accounts, and let it find the payoff money you didn’t know you had.
The short version: a credit card is a fine way to pay for a trip you’ve already funded. It’s an expensive way to pay for one you haven’t. And right now, with the statement sitting in your inbox, is the cheapest moment you’ll ever have to fix it.
Key takeaways
- More than 1 in 3 travelers (35%) who charged last summer’s trip still haven’t paid off the balance, per NerdWallet.
- Credit card balances rose $21 billion in Q2 2026 to $1.26 trillion, and about 7% of card debt is 90+ days past due, per the New York Fed’s August report.
- The average rate on card accounts that accrue interest is now 22.15%, so carrying the typical $3,940 summer trip for a year costs roughly $490.
- 1 in 5 Americans would skip a credit card payment before skipping a vacation, per WalletHub.
- Fall travel interest is up 17% and average fall rates sit just 5% below summer peaks, though beach towns like Myrtle Beach still drop as much as 34% in October, per Vrbo.
- It was a K-shaped summer: high earners made up 55% of travelers, while nearly 40% of lower-income households had no plans at all.
The trip already happened. The sunburn faded, the camera roll is full, and none of that changes now. The only thing still in play is what this vacation ends up costing, so pay it off like it’s a bill with a deadline, because it is. The deadline is whenever the holiday spending starts.
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