Amount spent on cards increased in August

Overall, the amount spent on debit cards increased by 0.9% to £66bn, while there was a two percent increase in credit card spending to £20.6bn – this is despite there being a 0.1% drop in the number of credit card transactions made over the same period. As for debit card transactions, 2.19 billion were made in August – 2.3% more than during the same month in 2022.  

Meanwhile, the outstanding balances on credit card accounts have grown by 8.5% in the 12 months to August, while 50.1% of outstanding balances incurred interest compared to 51.2% 12 months ago.  

Turning to the level card transactions made in the UK, this increased by three percent year-on-year – going up to 2.13 billion, with a total spend of £74.2bn, 1.9% higher than during August 2022.

Of the transactions made, contactless payments accounted for 64% of all credit card and 76% of all debit card transactions – with 1.6 billion being made overall in August, 4.8% more than during the same month last year.

Additionally, there was a 7.7% increase in the total value of contactless transactions year-on-year – going up from £22.8bn to £24.6bn.