Year-on-year jump in debit and credit card transactions made in July

In total 2.21 billion debit card transactions were made in the month – 4.9% more than in July 2022 – while for credit cards this jumped by 8.5% to 374.5 million. Meanwhile, the outstanding balance on credit card accounts grew by 8.7% over the 12 months to July.  

Alongside the volume of transactions increasing, UK cardholders also spent more year-on-year in July – with debit card spending going up by 4.4% to £67.8bn, while credit card spending stood at £20.8bn – 10.4% higher than in July 2022.  

The number card transactions made in the UK also went up, albeit at a slower rate, with total debit and credit card transactions hitting 2.14 billion in July – one percent more than in July 2022. The total spend on these cards also went up, increasing by 0.8% year-on-year to £76bn.  

Contactless payments, meanwhile, accounted for 63% of all credit card and 76% of all debit card transactions. 

By volume, 1.6 billion contactless card transactions took place in the month – 3.4% more than the 1.5 billion made in July 2022 – with the total value of these transactions being £24.8bn, 5.9% more than the £24.4bn these were worth in during the same month last year.

Broken down by card type, contactless credit card transaction rose by 7.1% year-on-year, while the number of contactless debit card transactions increased by 2.8% when compared to July 2022.