Net loans up in August

Personal loans and credit card debt grew compared to July by £1.1 billion, a twenty per cent increase on monthly growth.

Mortgages for new homes stood at 119,000, lower than July’s figures, but the amount of people seeking to remortgage their home, which is often taken as an alternative to a loan, remained the same.

Overall, loan and credit figures for August were said to be in line with the six-month average, though slightly down on July’s amount.

However, growth in loans and credit was still up 10.4 per cent on the year before, showing that Britons still have not managed to conquer their debt.

Commenting on the findings, Milan Khatri, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said that he expected to see more mortgage growth but warned of a likely rise in the interest rates in November.