Australians 'reign in credit card balances'

The average amount Australian consumers owe on their credit cards grew by the slowest rate since records began in April as many people reigned in spending in the face of higher interest rates and economic turbulence, reports say.

Figures from the Reserve Bank of Australia show average outstanding balances on credit cards were $3,085 - up 5.2 per cent year-on-year, the smallest increase since the bank started keeping records in 1995, ABC states.

The Age adds that total outstanding balances increased 1.4 per cent to $43.64 billion from March, while new spending also rose to $17.66 billion on charge and credit cards in April, up from $17.14 billion the month before.

Overall, the number of credit card purchases was up 2.2 per cent month-on-month to 115.36 million, while the value of those purchases rose 3.3 per cent to $16.60 between March and April.

However, the overall value of credit card repayments decreased from $17.67 billion to $17.53 billion over the same period - a decline of 0.8 per cent.

Nevertheless, over the year, repayments accelerated by 14.2 per cent , outstripping the previous five-year average of 8.6 per cent.

Cash advances were also down in terms of both the number of transactions and the total value, the figures show.

In April there were 2.87 million cash advances made on credit and debit cards, compared to 2.91 million in March. In total, they were worth $1.054 billion - down 2.1 per cent from the previous month's total of $1.077 billion.

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