Outstanding balances on credit card accounts contracted by 4.5%

20th December 2021

UK Finance has published its latest Card Spending Update for September 2021 which showed that outstanding balances on credit card accounts have contracted by 4.5 per cent over the twelve months to September, as a result of repayments outstripping new borrowing in the year.

The latest data indicated that there were 1.9 billion debit card transactions in September, 12.6 per cent more than in September 2020 and 20.8 per cent more than September 2019. The total spend of £59.2 billion was 5.1 per cent less than September 2020 but 14.1 per cent higher than September 2019.

There were 321 million credit card transactions in September, 13.9 per cent more than in September 2020 and 7.3 per cent more than September 2019. The total spend of £16.8 billion was 19 per cent higher than September 2020 but 2.3 per cent less than in September 2019.

Outstanding balances on credit card accounts have contracted by 4.5 per cent over the twelve months to September, as a result of repayments outstripping new borrowing in the year.

In addition, the figures show that there were 1.9 billion debit and credit card transactions in the UK in September, 14.2 per cent more than in September 2020 and 15 per cent more than September 2019. The total spend of £69.1 billion was 4.9 per cent higher than September 2020 and 15.5 per cent higher than September 2019.

Contactless payments accounted for 53 per cent of all credit card and 69 per cent of all debit card transactions.

There were 1,260 million contactless card transactions in September, 30.5 per cent more than the 966 million in September 2020 and 70.3 per cent more than the 740 million in September 2019. The total value of contactless transactions was £15 billion in September, a 30.1 per cent increase on £11.5 billion in September 2020 and 114.6 per cent increase on £7 billion in September 2019.

The number of contactless credit card transactions was 28.6 per cent higher than September 2020 and 42.9 per cent higher than September 2019. The number of contactless debit card transactions was 30.7 per cent higher than September 2020 and 75.2 per cent higher than September 2019.