UK Finance’s latest data on credit card spending for May 2024 shows that outstanding balances on credit card accounts rose by 8.5 percent in the 12 months to May and that 48.9 percent of outstanding balances accrue interest, compared with 49.7 percent in May 2023.
The data showed 2.3 billion debit card transactions in May, 2.8 percent more than in May 2023. Total spending of £67.8 billion was 0.2 percent lower than in May 2023. There were 382.1 million credit card transactions in May, 1.3 percent more than in May 2023. Total spending of £21.4 billion was 1.4 percent higher than in May 2023.
The analysis also found 2.21 billion debit and credit card transactions in the UK in May, 2.2 percent more than in May 2023. Total spending of £75.9 billion was 0.1 percent lower than in May 2023.
Contactless payments accounted for 65 percent of all credit card transactions and 77 percent of all debit card transactions. There were 1.65 billion contactless card transactions in May, up 3.7 percent from the 1.59 billion in May 2023. The total value of contactless transactions was £26 billion in May, up 6.1 percent from £24.5 billion in May 2023.
The number of contactless credit card transactions was 8.2 percent higher than in May 2023, while the number of contactless debit card transactions was 2.9 percent higher than in May 2023.
