Australians Spend 22 Per Cent Less On Credit Cards In January

Post by NeilMc on March 12, 2010 · Under Australian Economy, Business News, banking, credit cards · Comment 

Australians spent nearly 22 per cent less on charge and credit cards during the month of January compared with the previous month according to new data from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

According to the data which is not seasonally adjusted, Australians spent $17.18 billion on charge and credit cards compared with the $22.02 billion that was spent during December.

The level of spending usually falls in January following frenetic spending in December in the run up to Christmas, however a decline of 22 per cent this year was the largest monthly fall since January 2005.

The total value of outstanding charge and credit card balances fell by 1.6 per cent to $46.152 billion.

Despite the fall, balances outstanding over the last twelve months increased by 5.0 per cent, which is still lower than the average annual increase of 11.0 per cent for the preceding five years.

The average credit card account balance decreased by 1.9 per cent to $3,188.87 in January from $3,250.44 December.

Despite the monthly fall, the average credit card balance has still grown when year on year figures are compared and increased 2.9 per cent from a year earlier, still lower than the average annual five year growth rate of 5.5 per cent during the 5 years to January 2009.

People paid down their debt far slower in January compared with December, with charge and credit card repayments falling 13.6 per cent to $18.593 billion in January.

The January repayment level was still 2.8 per cent higher than in the previous year, but still well below the 8.9 per cent average annual growth rate recorded in the preceding five years.

By value, credit card purchases decreased by 22.5 per cent to $16.322 billion in January from $21.072 billion in December but rose by 4.4 per cent over the year to January.

Compare Australian Credit Card Deals

Bookmark and Share

Related posts

Tags: , , , ,

Comments

Leave a Reply







Sponsored Ads