UK Finance has released its latest card spending data for October 2023 highlighting that there were 377.7 million credit card transactions in October, 6.1 % more than in October 2022. The total spend of £20.4 billion was 5.7 % higher than October 2022.
Outstanding balances on credit card accounts have grown by 8.7 % over the twelve months to October and 51.2 % of outstanding balances incurred interest, the same as twelve months ago.
Separately there were 2.23 billion debit card transactions in October, 2 % more than in October 2022. The total spend of £67.2 billion was 0.1 % higher than October 2022.
Overall there were 2.14 billion debit and credit card transactions in the UK in October, 2 % more than in October 2022. The total spend of £74.7 billion was 0.6 % higher than October 2022.
Contactless payments accounted for 63 % of all credit card and 76 % of all debit card transactions. There were 1.6 billion contactless card transactions in October, 3.9 % more than the 1.5 billion in October 2022. The total value of contactless transactions was £24.4 billion in October, a 5.4 % increase on £23.2 billion in October 2022.
The number of contactless credit card transactions was 7 % higher than October 2022 whilst the number of contactless debit card transactions was 3.4 % higher than October 2022.