UK Finance card spending update January 2024

UK Finance today releases its card spending data for January 2024, covering the monthly value and volume of transactions across debit and credit cards, both in the UK and of UK-issued cards across the world. This data also covers outstanding balances on credit cards, card issuance and contactless payments. The highlights can be found below.

Key data highlights:

Card transactions by UK cardholders both in the UK and overseas:

• There were 2.06 billion debit card transactions in January, 5 % more than in January 2023. The total spend of £64.6bn was 0.8 % lower than January 2023.
• There were 347.9 million credit card transactions in January, 8.4 % more than in January 2023. The total spend of £20.4bn was 8.4 % higher than January 2023.
• Outstanding balances on credit card accounts have grown by 9.4 % over the twelve months to January and 50.5 % of outstanding balances incurred interest compared to 51.3 % in January 2023.

Card transactions made in the UK by cardholders from both the UK and from overseas countries:

• There were 1.93 billion debit and credit card transactions in the UK in January, 2.6 % more than in January 2023. The total spend of £71.5bn was 0.8 % lower than January 2023.
• Contactless payments accounted for 62 % of all credit card and 74 % of all debit card transactions.
• There were 1.39 billion contactless card transactions in January, 3.6 % more than the 1.34 billion in January 2023. The total value of contactless transactions was £21.5bn in January, a 5.5 % increase on £20.3 billion in January 2023.

The number of contactless credit card transactions was 8 % higher than January 2023. The number of contactless debit card transactions was 2.9 % higher than January 2023.

Janine Randolph, head of data management at UK Finance, says, “The total amount of credit card balances outstanding continued to grow in January, but at a more moderate pace.

“Balance transfer activity hit a ten-year high, contributing to the growth in gross lending. It also meant that the volume of balances incurring interest fell slightly year-on-year. This shows us that consumers are taking advantage of lenders’ competitive balance transfer offers and paying down their outstanding balances. As such, we haven’t seen signs of a fall in consumers’ ability to make their credit card repayments.

“Consumer spending on debit cards was slightly down on a year ago. This was partly because of the usual seasonal drop after Christmas, but also due to households continuing to feel the effects of cost-of-living pressures.”