BBA: Loans up again

Last month there was a £186 million increase in loan and overdraft use on July’s figures, even though credit card lending fell.

Although David Dooks, BBA’s director of statistics, said that this was a “weak increase”, it still shows that people are failing to clear debt and instead are borrowing more.

Even the increase in interest rates last month to 4.75 per cent failed to curb borrowing significantly, even though monthly repayments on linked loans and mortgages would increase.

However, credit card debt did fall in part of a recent trend, though it could be that people are borrowing on their overdrafts and loans instead.

Yet once loans are factored in, Mr Dooks called overall net mortgage lending for August a “new monthly record” showing that Britons’ appetite for credit has yet to cease.