Individual lending growth slowing

The rate of growth of money lending to individuals in the UK has been slowing for the past few months, according to the latest data from the Bank of England.

During the past 12 months, Britons increased their overall debt management burden by a total of 9.1 per cent, while on a three-month annualised basis the rate of growth was down to 7.7 per cent.

Around £100 billion more credit card debt was accumulated during January of this year and the overall rate of consumer borrowing increased by close to £900 million nationwide last month.

A statement from the Bank of England explained: “The annual growth rate of consumer credit rose by 0.1pp to 5.9 per cent, but the three-month annualised growth rate fell by 1.4pp to 5.2 per cent.”

In February, the bank opted to cut the base rate of interest by a quarter-point to 5.25 per cent.