Mortgage lending increases as credit card spending declines
Published On 21 September 2007
While mortgage lending continued to grow in August, credit card borrowing continued to fall back in the month, a new report shows.Data released by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) indicated that mortgage lending rose by an underlying £6.1 billion over the month. This was above the previous month's increase of £5.8 billion and the recent monthly average of just £5.4 billion.
However, the figures showed that unsecured lending declined in August, with credit card borrowing falling by £100 million and loans and overdrafts declining by £300 million.
David Dooks, BBA director of statistics, explained: "August figures gave no indication of the financial market difficulties seen last week. Banks' mortgage lending - standing at £550 billion - rose by more than the recent trend, in part reflecting higher remortgaging activity.
"In contrast, unsecured borrowing fell and there was a further reduction in credit card debt, while customers' deposits of £520 billion continued to grow in line with the recent pattern."
Credit Action figures show that the total level of consumer debt in the UK reached in excess of £1.35 trillion in July.
