UK Finance card spending update October 2023
UK Finance today releases its card spending data for October 2023, 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 2.23 billion debit card transactions in October, 2 % more than in October 2022. The total spend of £67.2bn was 0.1 % higher than October 2022.
- There were 377.7 million credit card transactions in October, 6.1 % more than in October 2022. The total spend of £20.4bn was 5.7 % higher than October 2022.
- Outstanding balances on credit card accounts have grown by 8.7 % over the twelve months to October and 51.2 % of outstanding balances incurred interest, the same as twelve months ago.
Card transactions made in the UK by cardholders from both the UK and from overseas countries:
- There were 2.14 billion debit and credit card transactions in the UK in October, 2 % more than in October 2022. The total spend of £74.7bn was 0.6 % higher than October 2022.
- Contactless payments accounted for 63 % of all credit card and 76 % of all debit card transactions.
- There were 1.6 billion contactless card transactions in October, 3.9 % more than the 1.5 billion in October 2022. The total value of contactless transactions was £24.4bn in October, a 5.4 % increase on £23.2bn in October 2022.
- The number of contactless credit card transactions was 7 % higher than October 2022. The number of contactless debit card transactions was 3.4 % higher than October 2022.
