According to data from UK Finance, credit card spending and number of transactions continue to rise
IN BRIEF:
- The research covers both monthly value and volume of transactions across debit and credit cards in the UK and of UK-issued cards worldwide, demonstrating an inceases versus the previous year
- Between 2021 and 2022, credit card transactions were up 0.3 per cent to 355.1 and total spend was up 5.3% to £19.6bn
- In the same time period, debit card transactions were up by 8.1% to 2.1bn, while total spending was up 5.3% to £66.6bn
What does this mean?
Whilst the increase in credit card transactions was marginal, total spend has increased by over 5%. More notably, outstanding balances on credit card accounts grew by 9.4% in a year – a reflection of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. There has also been a significant uptick in contactless payments post-lockdown with the total value of contactless transactions across both debit and credit rising by 29.4% to £22.9bn from £17.7bn.
