ContentsThis page Summary of key payment statistics

1 Plastic card spending 2 Credit card lending

Plastic cardsNumber of debit cards in issue (end-2012) 88.6 mn Number of credit & charge cards in issue (end-2012) 63.0 mn

Plastic card transactions

Number of Q3 2013Annual rate of growth* Total value of Q3 2013

Annual rate of growth*

Debit card purchases 2.2 bn 6.3% Debit card purchases £94.9 bn 7.6%

Credit & charge card purchases 0.7 bn 6.2% Credit & charge card purchases £40.8 bn 3.4%

All plastic card purchases 2.8 bn 6.3% All plastic card purchases £135.7 bn 6.3%

Number of Annual figures

2012Annual rate

of growth Total value ofAnnual figures

2012Annual rate

of growth

Debit card purchases 7.9 bn 9.2% Debit card purchases £347.5 bn 6.6%

Credit & charge card purchases 2.4 bn 6.0% Credit & charge card purchases £154.0 bn 2.1%

All plastic card purchases 10.3 bn 8.4% All plastic card purchases £501.5 bn 5.2%

Plastic card spending (seasonally adjusted)

Credit card lending (seasonally adjusted)

* Growth rates are based on a rolling twelve months

© Copyright 2013 The UK Cards Association

Following a slowdown in Q1 the annual growth rate in spending on all plastic cards picked up in Q2, which continued into Q3. Spending on debit cards was up by 7.6% to £94.9 billion, while spending on credit cards increased by 3.4% to £40.8 billion. Within the sectors, spending has been growing more strongly in the services sector which registered an annual growth of 8.5% at the end of the quarter. This compares to a growth rate of 4.2% in the retail sales sector. Furthermore within retail sales spending using plastic cards accounted for approximately 75.0% of the total in Q3 – with a split of 51.2% by debit and 23.8% by credit. The debit card share continued to increase, after breaking the 50% threshold during 2012. This is a reflection of the continuing migration of low value cash payments to debit cards, which more recently has been amplified by the increasing use of debit cards with contactless functionality.

Gross lending continued to strengthen in the third quarter, averaging £12.8 billion per month, up from a monthly average of £12.4 billion in the second quarter. By comparison, the monthly average in the third quarter of 2012 was £11.5 billion. Growth in net lending (gross lending net of repayments and other adjustments) averaged £180 million per month, down from a monthly average of £219 million in Q2. The monthly average in Q3 2012 was £121 million. The level of credit card credit outstandings, as reported by the Bank of England, have been flat over the past eighteen months averaging around £55 billion. There was however an uplift of approximately £2 billion during Q3 2013, which can be attributed to an expansion in the reporting population. Despite this recent uplift, the composition of outstanding balances has remained unaltered. The percentage of balances bearing interest was unchanged at 60.0%, a proportion that has remained relatively stable over the preceding two years.

Of the £57.2 billion outstanding on credit cards at the end of September 2013, interest-bearing balances accounted for £34.2 billion, with non-interest-bearing balances amounting to £23.0 billion. Putting this into context, at the end of Q3 2013 total credit card outstandings (£57.2 billion) accounted for just 4.0% of total outstandings (£1,428 billion) - this proportion has remained relatively unchanged since March 2012.

Summary of key statistics for Q3 2013

There were 2.2 billion debit card transactions amounting to £94.9 billion in Q3 2013, up from a total spend of £91.8 billion (2.1 billion transactions) in Q2 2013. Credit card transactions numbered 657 million, amounting to £40.8 billion, up from £39.5 billion (619 million transactions) in Q2 2013. Taken together, this equated to an increase of £4.4 billion or 3.4% in total plastic card spending between Q2 and Q3. This was above average inflation of 2.7% CPI recorded during the quarter and indicated real underlying growth in consumer spending, most likely linked to the acceleration in GDP recorded in Q3 2013. Spending in the services sector rose by £1.2 billion, with the majority coming from the 'other' services sub-sector (£1.0 billion). Spending in entertainment also increased (£0.4 billion) while travel decreased (£0.3 billion). Meanwhile spending in the retail sales sector increased more markedly, rising by £3.2 billion between Q2 and Q3, spread across all sub-sectors. Closer analysis shows a strong pick-up in growth within the household and 'other' retail sub-sectors, in both Q2 and Q3, which could be linked to the pick-up in the housing market. The average transaction value (ATV) for all plastic cards decreased for the second consecutive quarter, falling by 91p to £48.26 - the ATV for debit cards decreased by 73p to £44.03 while the ATV for credit cards decreased by 166p to £62.12.

Table 1 Spending in the UK on debit and credit cardsSeasonally adjusted

Average purchase value (£)

Debit cards

Credit cards Total

Debit cards

Credit cards Total

Debit cards

Credit cards All cards

2007 4,967 1,958 6,925 223.9 123.8 347.7 45.07 63.24 50.212008 5,466 1,972 7,438 245.3 126.2 371.5 44.87 64.02 49.952009 5,940 2,002 7,942 263.5 125.4 388.9 44.36 62.63 48.97

2010 Q1 1,560 498 2,058 68.8 31.7 100.5 44.09 63.63 48.82Q2 1,605 503 2,109 72.1 32.3 104.5 44.94 64.20 49.54Q3 1,645 503 2,148 72.8 32.0 104.9 44.27 63.70 48.82Q4 1,683 498 2,181 74.8 31.9 106.7 44.46 64.11 48.95

2010 Total 6,493 2,002 8,495 288.6 128.0 416.5 44.44 63.91 49.03

2011 Q1 1,711 543 2,254 77.1 36.3 113.4 45.07 66.82 50.31Q2 1,795 560 2,355 82.6 37.6 120.2 46.01 67.05 51.02Q3 1,838 574 2,412 83.7 38.6 122.4 45.56 67.38 50.74Q4 1,867 577 2,445 82.6 38.3 120.9 44.24 66.34 49.46

2011 Total 7,211 2,255 9,466 326.0 150.8 476.9 45.21 66.90 50.382012 Q1 1,966 600 2,566 86.9 39.1 126.1 44.21 65.23 49.12

Q2 1,941 586 2,527 85.0 37.7 122.7 43.78 64.28 48.54Jul 663 197 861 29.1 12.6 41.8 43.94 64.13 48.56

Aug 653 196 849 28.7 12.5 41.3 44.05 63.99 48.66Sep 641 195 836 28.5 12.6 41.1 44.41 64.81 49.17Q4 2,009 615 2,624 89.2 39.4 128.6 44.39 64.03 48.99

2012 Total 7,873 2,389 10,262 347.5 154.0 501.5 44.13 64.46 48.86

2013 Jan 665 202 866 29.7 12.9 42.6 44.65 63.90 49.13Feb 682 205 888 31.4 13.1 44.5 46.06 63.67 50.13Mar 656 199 855 29.6 12.5 42.1 45.12 63.04 49.29Apr 686 200 886 30.8 13.0 43.8 44.87 64.82 49.38

May 685 213 897 30.8 13.6 44.3 44.91 63.75 49.38Jun 681 206 887 30.3 12.9 43.2 44.49 62.80 48.75Jul 735 223 958 31.9 13.7 45.6 43.42 61.40 47.61

Aug 691 213 904 30.8 13.5 44.3 44.64 63.23 49.02Sep 730 221 951 32.2 13.7 45.8 44.07 61.78 48.19

2013 Total 6,210 1,882 8,092 277.4 118.8 396.3 44.68 63.12 48.97

Chart 1.1 Chart 1.2

Chart 1.3 Notes

Number of purchases (million) Value of purchases (£ billion)

^ Data for 2011 have been revised due to a change in the reporting population.

This table shows spending in the UK on plastic cards as reported to The UK Cards Association by the banks and other institutions that process card purchases on behalf of UK merchants, retailers and other service providers. The data include a small proportion of spending using non-UK-issued cards, e.g. by tourists, but exclude spending abroad on UK-issued cards. Cash withdrawals from ATMs are not included.

Chart 1.3 includes spending on automotive fuels.

These data are an extract of Card Expenditure Statistics that are available monthly and may be found on The UK Cards Association web site at http://www.theukcardsassociation.org.uk/2013-facts-figures/index.asp

Due to the regular up-dating of the seasonal adjustment process and rounding there are small differences between the annual figures in this table compared with those published in Tables 16, 17 and 18 of UK Payment Statistics and monthly Card Expenditure Statistics

Annual growth rates for 2011 have been adjusted in charts 1.1 and 1.2 to take account of a change in reporting population in January 2011

• Plastic card spending amounted to £135.7 billion during the quarter, representing an annual growth rate of 6.3%• During Q3 2013 plastic card spending accounted for 75.0% of national retail sales, averaging £23.0 billion per month• Plastic card spending on services averaged £22.3 billion per month, up from £21.9 billion in Q2 2013

0481216202428

Sep05

Sep06

Sep07

Sep08

Sep09

Sep10

Sep11

Sep12

Sep13

£ billi

ons

Retail sales (high street spending)Monthly spend - three month moving average

Plastic cards Cash and other payments

-5%0%5%10%15%20%25%

Sep05

Sep06

Sep07

Sep08

Sep09

Sep10

Sep11

Sep12

Sep13

Total spending on plastic cardsAnnual growth rates

Credit value Debit value

-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

Sep05

Sep06

Sep07

Sep08

Sep09

Sep10

Sep11

Sep12

Sep13

Total plastic card transactionsAnnual growth rates

Credit volume Debit volume

Table 2 Credit card lending1

Seasonally adjusted. Includes credit and charge cards.

The composition of this table changed with effect of Q1 2013

Gross lending Net lending Net lendingannual growth rate

Outstanding balances

Average credit card interest rate

Source: Bank of

England2

Source: Bank of

England3

Source: Bank of

England4

Source: Bank of

England5

Source: Bank of

England6

£ billion £ million % £ billion %

2007 128.2 2,070 3.9% 66.4 15.1%2008 131.1 4,245 8.0% 65.8 16.1%2009 121.4 2,429 4.7% 62.2 16.3%

2010 Q1 31.8 627 4.3% 61.3 16.5%Q2 32.5 267 3.5% 59.3 16.7%Q3 33.1 491 3.7% 59.0 16.7%Q4 33.3 442 3.1% 58.5 16.7%

2010 Total 130.7 1,8272011 Q1 33.8 311 2.6% 58.1 16.7%

Q2 34.2 658 3.3% 57.3 16.7%Q3 34.3 368 3.1% 59.0 16.7%Q4 34.2 -55 2.2% 58.5 17.3%

2011 Total 136.5 1,2822012 Q1 34.1 83 1.8% 55.7 17.3%

Q2 34.5 284 1.2% 55.7 17.3%Jul 11.4 -84 0.4% 55.4 17.3%

Aug 11.4 49 0.7% 55.2 17.3%Sep 11.8 397 1.2% 55.5 17.3%Q4 35.5 383 2.0% 55.2 17.3%

2012 Total 138.7 1,112

2013 Jan 11.9 143 2.2% 55.1 17.6%Feb 12.1 252 2.9% 55.3 17.7%Mar 12.2 216 3.0% 55.4 17.7%Apr 12.1 96 3.1% 55.4 17.7%

May 12.4 302 3.6% 55.5 17.9%Jun 12.6 260 3.7% 55.6 17.8%Jul 12.6 160 4.2% 57.2 17.9%

Aug 13.0 229 4.5% 57.2 17.9%Sep 12.8 151 4.0% 57.2 17.9%

2013 Total 111.8 1,809

Chart 2.1 Chart 2.2

All data series are available from the Bank of England website at :http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/iadb/SimpleSearch.asp?Travel=Nix

1 After a review the composition of this table changed with effect of Q1 2013. The 'repayments ratio' has been replaced with net credit card lending

2 Series LPMVZQO. Gross lending equates to new spending including interest and any other charges

3 Series LPMVZQX. Net lending is gross lending net of repayments and other adjustments

4 Series LPMVVUZ. Growth rates are as published at end period e.g. growth rate for 2008 was the figure published in December 2008

5 Outstanding balances (LPMVZRJ) are reported to the Bank of England by all UK credit card issuers. The figures shown here up to end-2009 include estimated amounts that have been securitised, i.e. transferred by UK credit card issuers to non-resident associated companies. A change in the reporting population in July 2013 introduced another step change amounting to £1.6 billion. See footnotes to series LPMVZRJ for more details.

6 Series IUMCCTL published at end-period. This is expressed in terms of Annual Percentage Rate of Charge (APR) for purchases only and is weighted according to each credit card issuer's monthly gross credit card lending

• Gross lending on credit cards amounted to £38.4 billion, up from £37.1 billion advanced in Q2 2013• Net credit card lending averaged £180 million per month, down from £219 million in Q2 2013• Total credit card outstandings stood at £57.2 billion at the end of the quarter• Approximately 40% of credit card outstandings were non-interest bearing

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Sep05

Sep06

Sep07

Sep08

Sep09

Sep10

Sep11

Sep12

Sep13

Annual growth rate of net credit card lending

40

50

60

70

80

Sep05

Sep06

Sep07

Sep08

Sep09

Sep10

Sep11

Sep12

Sep13

£billi

ons

Total credit card borrowings