December 2011 - Credit Card Statistics1
02/02/2012

Annual growth in borrowing (after allowing for the effects of debt write-offs and therefore reflecting current card activity) is 1.4%, having fallen from 2.9% in December 2010.

BBA statistics director, David Dooks, said:

“There was more credit card activity in December than in any previous year, for both number and value of purchases.  However, the amount owed on cards remained little changed of late and ended the year 5% down on 2010, showing that cardholders are consistently paying off their card spending.  The proportion of balances bearing interest also remained stable during 2011.”

Please read the full release via the links below.

Notes to Editors

1.  These data cover the world-wide transactions of UK resident holders of credit cards issued in the UK by financial institutions affiliated to the Visa, Mastercard or Amex organisations.  Earlier data on the BBA website showing the split between Mastercard and Visa are no longer shown, due to certain institutions moving existing credit card accounts from Visa or Mastercard to Amex branding. 

2. Seasonally adjusted credit card purchases used in the ‘number of credit card purchases’ chart reveal underlying trends and allow adjacent months to be directly compared with each other. Lending growth allows for the effects of monthly write‑offs, in line with data published by the Bank of England and other BBA data.

3. Data for January 2010 onwards have been updated to bring in amended and upgraded grossing factors; consequently data from then is not strictly comparable with earlier data.

4. The BBA is the leading UK banking and financial services trade association, representing its members, from 50 countries, on domestic and international issues.  Our members provide the full range of banking and financial services, operating some 150 million current and deposit accounts in the UK and making up the world’s largest international banking centre.