Personal loans are taking over from credit cards as the preferred form of unsecured personal finance. Banking industry researcher RFi published a report last week which showed personal loan balances were up by five per cent over the past 12 months, while revolving balances on credit cards have been flat.RFi's Personal Loan Business Tracker is based on monthly data collected from the four big banks and the three regionals.When RFi's managing director, Alan Shields, first presented these findings, at a conference a couple of months ago, industry participants on a panel said the value and convenience of credit cards meant they would continue to be a popular option.Shields said: "This shift has occurred in the past year. A personal loan is a disciplined financial tool that suits the times."The latest Australian Prudential Regulation Authority figures show that credit card balances have fallen by 1.2 per cent over the 12 months to the end of September.Shields said that since about the middle of last year transaction volumes of credit cards have grown by around three per cent, while revolving credit balances have stopped growing.He said consumers wanted the discipline of a personal loan which was for a specific purpose and had to be paid off in a fixed term, rather than a revolving credit facility that never gets paid off.