£54.4 billion owed on UK credit cards

By Lucy Bower

The latest 'lending to individuals' figures from the Bank of England reveal that there was still £54.4 billion of credit card debt in the UK at the end of August, which is a decrease of around £2.6 billion, compared with August 2011.

The August credit card figures remained more or less unchanged on the month before, but over the last 12 months, outstanding balances have dropped by £2.6 billion - which is around a 4.5% drop.

The growth rate for credit card borrowing was 0.9% over the summer months of this year (the three months to August).

According to the official BoE figures, consumer credit (which does not include student loans or mortgages) totalled £156.5 billion at the end of August, so credit card debt only makes up around a third of all unsecured debt in the UK.

The total owed in 'other loans and advances', which may include payday loans, catalogue debts, and other personal loans, came to £102.1 billion in August this year.

Image © chere - Fotolia

Tags: Bank of England, credit card debt

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