(14 April 2010 – Australia) The Reserve Bank of Australia has released its latest credit card and charge cards statistics, revealing consumers clocked up a further A$1.04 billion in credit card debt in February.The total value of credit and charge card transactions, including advances, rose by 6.05 percent in February, with Australians increasing their spending from A$17.18 billion in January to A$18.22 billion in February.
Total credit and charge card balances outstanding increased by 2.1 percent from A$46.152 billion in January, contributing to an overall rise of 5.18 percent over the last 12 months.
In January the average credit card account balance sat at A$3,189, that has now increased 1.9 percent to A$3,250, 3.29 percent higher than a year earlier.
Not surprisingly credit and charge card repayments dropped by 4.7 percent from January to February settling in at the new balance of A$17.716 billion.
Repayments in February were up by 5.5 percent from a year earlier.
EFTPOS has continued to decline, falling to A$10.655 billion in February from A$11.404 billion in January.
Overall EFTPOS transactions rose by 9.96 percent by value from 12 months earlier.