A surge in credit card borrowing to a record high last month has prompted concerns that low-income households are turning to expensive forms of lending to cope with rising costs of food, clothing and fuel. Figures from the Bank of England (BoE) showed credit card borrowing jumped by £1.5 billion in February 2002 to £59.5 billion in March 2022. This is the highest since records began in 1993 and is pushing the total amount of unsecured lending up by 90% on the prior month to £1.9 billion. The BoE said the rise pushed the annual growth rate for all forms of unsecured credit from 3.2% to a two-year high of 4.4%, raising the total outstanding balance of consumer credit to £199.5 billion. Credit card interest rates averaged 18.26%, down 0.29%s, while standard credit loans fell to 6.14% from 6.23%.
This comes as inflation hit 7%.
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/mar/29/uk-credit-card-cost-of-living-crisis-inflation
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-6109...
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