Over 25% of US Adults Struggle to Repay Credit Card Grocery Bills

More than 25% of US working-age adults who charged groceries to credit cards last year could not pay those bills back in full, a fresh sign that food inflation is bleeding into consumer credit stress. The Urban Institute study puts hard numbers on what card issuers and grocers have been hinting at for months.

What the Urban Institute found

Although 34.9 percent of working-age adults (ages 18 to 64) paid for groceries with a credit card and paid the bill in full, 19.6 percent paid less than the full balance but always made the minimum payment and 8.7 percent did not always make the minimum payment, meaning over 1 in 4 working-age adults used credit cards to purchase food for their families and experienced repayment challenges.

According to the Urban Institute, 63.2% of Americans aged 18 to 64 put their grocery purchases on credit cards last year, and more than a quarter of those shoppers subsequently faced difficulty repaying that debt. The share missing minimum payments is trending the wrong way: the rate of people who failed to meet the minimum payment on grocery-related credit card debt climbed from 7.1% in 2023 to 8.7% in 2025.

BNPL is being used to buy food, and users are falling behind

Nearly 1 in 10 working-age adults used Buy Now, Pay Later options to pay for groceries; among them, 1 in 3 (34.8 percent) missed a BNPL payment.

A separate LendingTree survey found that 29% of current buy now, pay later users had used the services to buy groceries this year, up from 25% in 2025 and 14% in 2024, with grocery shopping ranking as the third most common reason consumers used buy now, pay later financing, behind clothing and technology purchases.

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Low- and middle-income households are cracking first

About 12% of low- and middle-income adults who used credit cards to pay for groceries missed a minimum payment last year, triple the rate for higher-income consumers, and lower-earning households were also about four times as likely to miss a buy now, pay later payment as higher-income households.

Adults with incomes between two and four times the federal poverty level recorded one of the largest increases in missed minimum payments on grocery-related credit card debt since 2023, a sign the stress is creeping up the income ladder.

Why prices keep pinching

Over the past five years, grocery prices have jumped 32%, making food affordability a top concern for many Americans, the Urban Institute said.

And relief on food inputs is not guaranteed. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected the weakest U.S. wheat harvest since 1972, with analysts warning that lower production and higher input costs could gradually push up prices for products such as bread, pasta and cereals.

Options market and stocks to watch

Watch for consumer credit and BNPL names as delinquency data flows through earnings and monthly master trust reports.

• AFRM: BNPL is now a grocery-payment tool for millions. Watch for commentary on grocery-mix and late-payment trends.
• SQ (Block, owner of Afterpay): another direct read on BNPL delinquencies among lower-income users.
• PYPL: Pay in 4 exposure and consumer wallet share into the holiday period.
• COF and SYF: subprime-heavy card portfolios. Watch net charge-off and 30+ day delinquency trends.
• WMT and KR: grocery leaders that benefit from trade-down but also carry the affordability narrative.

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