The credit card market continued its decline in August, with further falls in account numbers, the value of purchases and balances.
According to the latest Reserve Bank payments data, the number of personal credit and charge card accounts fell 0.6 per cent to 13.06 million in August, compared with the previous month. It is the smallest number of personal accounts since 2008.
The value of purchases on personal cards was $18.7 billion in August – down 4.1 per cent from the previous month and down 25.5 per cent since last December.
Balances accruing interest fell 3.8 per cent to 20.6 billion in August and are at their lowest level since 2005.
The story is much the same with business credit cards. The number of commercial card accounts fell 0.5 per cent in August to 812,700 – the lowest number since 2006.
The value of commercial card transactions fell 1.25 per cent to $4.6 billion month-on-month, Value is down 25.7 per cent since last December.
Balances accruing interest fell 2.9 per cent to $943 million in August – the lowest level since 2009.
Meanwhile, spending on debit cards remains steady. Consumers spent $33.2 billion on debit cards in August – down from $35.1 billion in August but still the second highest monthly debt card spend this year.