Sitting outside every morning with a fresh cup of coffee or reading a book in the front yard at night: it’s the simple pleasures that matter to Susan Cannon.
Lately, sky-high interest rates on the 73-year-old’s credit cards have cast a dark shadow.
“I can’t get the balance down because I am still having to use credit cards at the end of the month to get groceries and gas,” Cannon, who lives in a mobile home in rural Texas, told Business Insider. “I pay my bills, but because of the interest rates, it keeps going up. I feel like I’m being gouged.”
Cannon has $39,440 in credit-card debt spread across 19 cards with varying interest rates, from 12.15% to 34.99%. The issue began to spiral when the pandemic hit — she lost her part-time job as a mystery shopper, which she had held since retiring from her full-time job as a medical coder in 2015.
Since then, she has relied on minimal COVID relief funds, her Social Security, and her pension. Credit cards have helped her stay afloat, using them for gas, groceries, and home repairs. While she paid at least $25 more than the minimum monthly payment, the interest rates prevented her from making a dent in her balance.
The only way she believes she can pay off her balance is through lower interest rates. Capping rates is supported by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and even President Donald Trump — he recently proposed a 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a proposal pushed by lawmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Companies and leaders in the financial world have said that capping rates would ultimately have a negative impact on consumers because banks may limit their offerings, driving more people to riskier sources of credit.
Credit card debt in the US is at a record high. Inflation and high living costs are pushing consumers to turn to credit cards to stay afloat in the short term, while high interest rates drag them down in the long term.
Economic conditions play a significant role in high credit-card balances, Adam Rust, the director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America, told Business Insider.
“Wages aren’t growing as quickly as the cost of living. People are struggling to get by,” Rust said. “They use their credit card when they’re having a tough time making ends meet, and repeated across tens of millions of households, the result is a surge in credit card debt.”
With this cold, my electric bill last month was $200, and I’m expecting to get hit with about a $300 bill, I believe, for next month,” Cannon said, adding that maintaining her home and land has added to her debt.
Still, many people use credit cards for reasons beyond making ends meet. For example, travel rewards can motivate people to purchase vacations and other travel expenses on their cards. A 2024 Bankrate survey said that respondents reported high credit card usage for medical costs, too much discretionary spending, and home renovations. A 2025 AARP report found that credit card debt is the most common type of debt among Americans aged 50 and older, with cardholders using them for everyday expenses and housing costs.
“I’ve always tried to put some in savings, but it’s gotten to where it’s all going toward interest,” Cannon said. “I just cannot get ahead.”
Those cards benefit from having a consumer who’s captive to using that card in that store to get that deal,” Rust said. “And so perhaps it’s not surprising that interest rates are frequently higher as a result.”
The motivation for companies to charge high interest rates could go beyond profit, an analysis from the New York Federal Reserve said. The rates could offset losses when a customer defaults, the analysis said, along with operating expenses, such as marketing costs, that might be built into the interest rate.
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