Households and businesses have maintained disciplined spending on credit and charge cards, despite the growing pressures on their budgets over the past year. The latest Reserve Bank payments data show no sign of a credit blowout. 

The value of transactions on personal credit and debit cards in May was A$26.2 billion – in line with transaction values in recent months. The number of transactions on personal cards in May – 279.9 million – was also in line with activity in recent months.

There were $26.5 billion of repayments in May, exceeding transaction value.

It was the same story with commercial credit and charge cards: total transaction value in May was $7.6 billion and repayment value was $7.7 billion.

Total balances accruing interest on credit and charge cards fell from $18.4 billion in April to $18.1 billion in May – the lowest level since September last year. Since November, the value of balances accruing interest has been reduced by 2.1 per cent.

Spending on debit cards continued to grow in May. Debit card holders made 917.4 million purchases worth $47.2 billion – both record amounts.