January’s credit card borrowing reaches £7.24bn

According to data from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), new credit card debt in the UK decreased by £496 million, against a rise in mortgage borrowing which totalled £16.6 billion.

While this was a 15 per cent increase in mortgage borrowing from January 2006, it is “well down” on that of December 2006, maintained the BBA.

However, new lending on overdrafts and personal loans for January rose by £226 million. While this is below the monthly average of £330 million, it is higher than the total recorded in the previous month.

“Prudent repayments, particularly on credit card accounts, are keeping the unsecured credit picture very subdued,” remarked David Dooks, director of statistics at the BBA.

In related debt management news, it was recently revealed that around six million British borrowers have entered into debt consolidation agreements in the past three years.