
Outstanding balances on credit card accounts have grown by 6.4 per cent over the twelve months to October and 49.4 per cent of outstanding balances incurred interest compared to 50.2 per cent in October 2023 according to latest data from UK Finance.
The data showed that there were 385.6 million credit card transactions in October, 2.6 per cent more than in October 2023. The total spend of £21.1 billion was 3.8 per cent higher than October 2023.
There were 2.3 billion debit card transactions in October, 2.2 per cent more than in October 2023. The total spend of £67.4 billion was 0.4 per cent lower than October 2023.
In total there were 2.19 billion debit and credit card transactions in the UK in October, 2.1 per cent more than in October 2023. The total spend of £74 billion was 0.8 per cent lower than October 2023. Contactless payments accounted for 65 per cent of all credit card and 77 per cent of all debit card transactions.
There were 1.64 billion contactless card transactions in October, 3.5 per cent more than the 1.58 billion in October 2023. The total value of contactless transactions was £25.3 billion in October, a 3.5 per cent increase on £24.4 billion in October 2023.
The number of contactless credit card transactions was 7.6 per cent higher than October 2023. The number of contactless debit card transactions was 2.9 per cent higher than October 2023.