Australians keep racking up credit card debt
AUSTRALIANS kept flexing the plastic in April new figures from the Reserve Bank show, with transactions up 3 per cent for the month.
Australians spent $17.66 billion on their credit and charge cards in April , compared to $17.14 billion in March.Total credit and charge card balances outstanding increased by 1.4 per cent to $43.64 billion, from $43.04 billion.
Balances accruing interest rose by .3 per cent to $31.65 billion in April from $31.24 billion in March.
Credit card repayments fell by 0.8 per cent to $17.53 billion in April from $17.67 billion in March.
The number of credit and charge accounts increased by 0.4 per cent to 14.14 million in April from 14.08 million in March.
The number of purchases using credit cards increased by 2.2 per cent to 115.36 million in April from 112.87 million in March.
By value, credit card purchases increased by 3.3 per cent to $16.60 billion in April from $16.07 billion in March.
The number of cash advances on credit and charge cards decreased by 1.3 per cent to 2.87 million in April from 2.91 million in March.
The value of cash advances on credit and cha cards fell by 2.1 per cent to $1.054 billion in April from $1.077 billion in March. Total credit and charge card balances outstanding rose by 10.1 per cent over the past 12 months, compared with an average of 13.8 per cent over the preceding five years.
Total credit card repayments rose by 14.2 per cent over the past 12 months, compared with an average of 8.6 per cent over the preceding five years.
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