(23 November 2009 – Australia) Reserve Bank figures indicate Australian’s still love their credit cards; as credit and charge card transactions including cash advances rose in September.Australians spent an extra A$337 million on their credit and charge cards in September, bringing the total spent to A$19.25 billion from A$18.87 billion for the month of August.
Purchases made on credit and charge cards increased 1.9 percent to A$18.29 billion, up from A$17.95 billion in August.
Repayments on credit cards rose by 3.5 percent in September to A$19.6 billion, but overall total credit card payments were down by 0.3 percent for the year.
The total value of cash advances on charge cards increased by 4.1 percent to A$0.96 billion, while total number of actual transactions fell by 0.7 percent.
Total balances outstanding rose by 0.45 percent to A$45.14 billion, an increase of A$200 million, from A$44.94 billion the previous month.
Balances accruing interest dropped from A$32.48 billion to A$32.43 billion in September.
EFTPOS transactions followed a different theme overall for the comparative months, falling by 2 percent from A$11.88 billion to A$11.65 billion for September.
However, the value of EFTPOS purchases was up 12.1 percent for the 12 months to September.