Credit Card Borrowing Declines

20th August 2007

The amount of money that UK consumers are borrowing on their credit cards fell again in July, according to the latest figures from the British Bankers Association. Total credit card borrowing reduced by some £73 million in July, compared to a fall of £78 million in June.

Credit card borrowing has shown an average monthly fall of £116 million over the first 6 months of 2007. Spending on credit cards during July was £7.6 billion, an increase of some 8% over July 2006 but because credit cardholders are at least matching their spending with repayments, overall credit card borrowing continued to decline.

David Dooks, the British Bankers Association's director of statistics said that, "Consumers' borrowing on credit cards again fell and personal loan and overdraft demand remained subdued because household finances have tightened"

Financial analysts have suggested that with repeated recent interest rates which have increased mortgage repayments, people have decided to reduce their credit card debts rather than increasing their borrowing on their credit card.