Credit card borrowing falls in April
Published On 21 May 2007
Credit card borrowing continued to fall in April, according to new figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA).The figures show that credit card lending fell by £143 million in April - after a fall of £80 million in March.
Over the last half-year period, credit card lending has steadily fallen by an average of £144 million every month.
However, the BBA's figures show that consumer credit overall rose by £12 million in April. Personal loans and overdrafts increased by £155 million - after the small rise of £49 million in the previous month.
"Lower mortgage demand, weaker deposit growth and little change in personal loans or credit card borrowing all point to people paying more attention to their finances," explained David Dooks, the BBA's director of statistics.
"High house prices and increasing monthly repayment costs are causing a slow down in the mortgage market and people are using money from their accounts instead of borrowing to meet their spending needs."
Figures from the charity Credit Action show that the UK personal debt has increased by 10.5 per cent in the last 12 months and stood at £1.31 trillion at the end of March.
