Credit card transactions increase by 9.8% in July

UK Finance has shared its latest credit and debit card data which has highlighted an increase in credit card usage in July when compared to 2021. The data showed that there were 343.8 million credit card transactions in July, 9.8 per cent more than in July 2021. The total spend of £18.8 billion was 17.1 per cent higher than July 2021.

There were 1.9 billion debit card transactions in July, 0.6 per cent more than in July 2021. The total spend of £57.5 billion was 6.3 per cent lower than July 2021.

Outstanding balances on credit card accounts have grown by 10.8 per cent over the twelve months to July and 51.5 per cent of outstanding balances incurred interest compared to 53.4 per cent twelve months ago.

The data also showed that there were 2.1 billion debit and credit card transactions in the UK in July, 12.2 per cent more than in July 2021. The total spend of £75.3 billion was 8.5 per cent higher than July 2021.

Contactless payments accounted for 61 per cent of all credit card and 75 per cent of all debit card transactions. There were 1.5 billion contactless card transactions in July, 25.5 per cent more than the 1.2 billion in July 2021. The total value of contactless transactions was £23.4 billion in July, a 57 per cent increase on £14.9 billion in July 2021.

Whilst the number of contactless credit card transactions was 38 per cent higher than July 2021.  The number of contactless debit card transactions was 23.7 per cent higher than July 2021.

Commenting on the figures Ciaran O’Malley, VP Ecommerce and Financial Services at Trustly, said The UK and European Payment markets have seen a period of exceptional volatility over the past year. Businesses are facing fundamental challenges as costs are being driven up by inflation and supply chain issues. Meanwhile, growing market uncertainty in the UK is intensifying the effects of the cost-of-living crisis, impacting demand for discretionary spending among consumers.”

“Despite this, during July we saw the volume of debit card transactions rise by 0.6 per cent, with the total spend at £57.5 billion. Digital payments also continued to take a greater market share.”

“We are on the doorstep of an Open Banking revolution, with a broad range of UK businesses planning to go live with Open Banking solutions in the next 6 months. Indeed, we expect account-to-account transactions to become a more widely used payment method. The logic for business is compelling. Increasing sales and customer satisfaction while reducing cost is a very attractive combination for any business, in particular in the current economic climate.”

“As macro-economic events and sentiment begin to hamper household spending capabilities, the usual winter rise will likely be modest compared to previous years, making seamless payments for ecommerce even more relevant.”