It doesn’t take a Bank of America analyst to know that gas prices are rising sharply across America as the country begins the second month of its war with Iran.

Still, new analysis from the firm shows that while consumers are using their cards more since the war started. And they are not just using them for gas; they’re using them to survive.

Gas prices have risen across nearly every region of the country, FoxBusiness reported. As of April 2, the national average for a gallon of regular was $4.08, up $1.08 from the previous month. A year ago, the average was $3.24.

Drivers on the West Coast are feeling it the most, with the Pacific states seeing prices as high as $5.89 a gallon in California and $5.35 in Washington state, well past the highest recorded average price of $5.02 during the height of the Covid pandemic in June 2022, according to AAA.

The U.S. economy was relatively healthy before the start of the war on Feb. 28, per Axios. Yet 10-year bond yields have suggested for some time that inflation isn’t going anywhere soon, despite years of political hand-wringing over the issue.

Now that the war is underway, experts expect energy prices to be just one of the casualties, as disruptions to fertilizer supply threaten food prices (the Gulf region provides nearly half of the world’s seaborne urea and 30% of global ammonia demand).

Aluminum shortages (20% from Gulf states) threaten everything from aerospace to automotive manufacturing to construction to consumer electronics, according to the Atlantic Council.

President Donald Trump has called the American affordability crisis a hoax in the past, as NPR reported. Nonetheless, new data from Bank of America show Americans are using their credit and debit cards more to pay for a wider range of goods, not just gas.

Total debit and credit card spending rose 4.7% year over year in the week ending March 28.

Photo by Guido Mieth on Getty Images

American card usage to pay for housing has increased since the start of Iran war

Americans are relying on their credit and debit cards to pay for things more since the war started, according to the latest Bank of America data.

Total card spending jumped 4.7% year over year in the week ending March 28, Yahoo Finance reported, citing BofA.

Unsurprisingly, the gains were led by gas spending, which increased more than 20% year over year. Also, perhaps unsurprisingly, the second-largest increase was in online shopping, which rose by more than 11% year over year.

Excluding gas spending, card usage was steady at 3.7%.

Related: High gas prices, Iran war take huge toll on U.S. consumer confidence

Americans are also using their cards more to pay for lodging, by about 2.77% on average, compared with a year ago. Coupled with lower department-store spending, which is trending lower, and furniture and home improvement spending, which is declining, it seems some Americans are tightening their belts amid the financial impacts and economic uncertainty from the war.

Another surprising nugget from the data is that higher-income households are relying more on card spending than households in other income brackets.

Consumer sentiment drops on concerns about Iran war, rising gas prices

Consumer sentiment fell nearly 6% in March to its lowest level since December 2025. Perhaps underscoring just how unpopular this war is, the declines were seen across age and political party, noted Silver Bulletin.

Middle- and higher-income consumers, “buffeted by both escalating gas prices and volatile financial markets in the wake of the Iran conflict, exhibited particularly large drops in sentiment,” according to the latest University of Michigan Survey of Consumers.

UM’s Consumer Sentiment Index fell to 53.3% for its final reading in March, down 5.8% from February and down 6.5% from where it was a year ago. Consumer sentiment fell to its lowest reading since December 2025.

Consumers are feeling even less optimistic about the future of the economy than they are about the present, and it doesn’t take a trusted survey that has been around for 80 years to understand why.

According to Morgan Stanley, every $1-per-gallon increase in gas prices results in a $450-per-year increase in fuel costs for gas-powered vehicles, assuming 27 mpg and 12,000 miles driven per year.

The short-term economic outlook dropped 14%, and year-ahead expected personal finances sank 10%, though declines in long-term expectations were more subdued, according to the Index of Consumer Sentiment.

“These patterns suggest that, at this time, consumers may not expect recent negative developments to persist far into the future. These views are subject to change, however, if the Iran conflict becomes protracted or if higher energy prices pass through to overall inflation,” the survey researchers said.

Related: Americans pay at the pump in fastest gas price increase in 20 years