Total debt
In May 2024, the total outstanding credit card debt in the UK was £70.6 billion, which is a 6.92% increase from the previous year. This equates to an average of £2,487 per household and £1,316 per adult.
Annual growth rate
In August 2023, the annual growth rate of credit card debt was 8%, which is similar to the rate seen in August 2022. This growth rate has been relatively consistent since May 2023, which may be due to the rising cost of living and interest rates.
Repayment time
According to The Money Charity, if someone makes only the minimum monthly repayments on their credit card, it would take them 26 years and 10 months to repay the average interest.
Age groups
According to NerdWallet, adults between the ages of 25 and 44 are more likely to use credit cards, personal loans, or overdrafts to fund their lifestyle than other age groups. In fact, 9.6% of people in this age group say they use debt “very often” to fund their lifestyle, compared to the average of 4% across all age groups
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Fifty percent of credit cardholders carry debt from month to month. That’s up from 44 percent in January and is the highest figure observed since March 2020, when 60 percent of cardholders carried debt from month to month.
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December 2022 saw record average balances on credit cards. In December 2023 that record was broken with average credit balances up 2.2% month-on-month and up 7.2% year-on-year. The average balance now stands at £1,780