
Latest UK Finance card spending data for May 2024 has shown that outstanding balances on credit card accounts have grown by 8.5 per cent over the twelve months to May and 48.9 per cent of outstanding balances incurred interest compared to 49.7 per cent in May 2023.
The data showed 2.3 billion debit card transactions in May, 2.8 per cent more than in May 2023. The total spend of £67.8 billion was 0.2 per cent lower than May 2023. There were 382.1 million credit card transactions in May, 1.3 per cent more than in May 2023. The total spend of £21.4 billion was 1.4 per cent higher than May 2023.
The analysis also showed 2.21 billion debit and credit card transactions in the UK in May, 2.2 per cent more than in May 2023. The total spend of £75.9 billion was 0.1 per cent lower than May 2023.
Contactless payments accounted for 65 per cent of all credit card and 77 per cent of all debit card transactions. There were 1.65 billion contactless card transactions in May, 3.7 per cent more than the 1.59 billion in May 2023. The total value of contactless transactions was £26 billion in May, a 6.1 per cent increase on £24.5 billion in May 2023.
The number of contactless credit card transactions was 8.2 per cent higher than May 2023 whilst the number of contactless debit card transactions was 2.9 per cent higher than May 2023.