Credit Card Debt

Credit Card Debt per head of Population

Latest figures for Australian Credit Card debt are:

• Oct-2008 $40,029,000,000
• Oct-2009 $41,127,000,000
• Oct-2010 $43,666,000,000 or $1,958 per head of population
• Oct-2011 $44,789,000,000 or $1,990 per head of population

These figures only include Credit Card debt that accrues interest, therefore avoiding the inclusion of the large number of accounts that are paid of in full at the end of each month, and interest is never an issue. Similar to charge cards. ie: People have the money in another account to offset those balances immediately.

Source: Additional Credit Card Statistics Spreadsheet at: www.rba.gov.au/payments-system/resources/statistics

Original Post on 28th October 2009

• UK Credit card debt per head of population
  • 1994 Total of: £9,453,209,396  = £163.38 per person
  • 2004 Total of: £60,951,509,687 = £1,018.66 per person
  • 2008 Total of: £65,580,040,237  = £1,068.37 per person. (3.94% of average Annual wage)
    • 654% growth since 1994 (based on per population figure)
  .
• Australia Credit card debt per head of population
  • 1994 Total of: $5,267,000,000 = $293.40, per person
  • 2004 Total of: $25,716,000,000 = $1,269.79 per person
  • 2008 Total of: $40,029,000,000 = $1,860.28 per person.  (2.81% of average Annual wage)
    • 634% growth since 1994 (based on per population figure)

Using an average of A$2 to the £ this works out at about:

• UK:  A$2,136 credit card debt per man, woman and child in UK
• Aus: A$1,860 credit card debt per man, woman and child in Australia

Historical Credit Card Debt Figures

Australian Credit Card Debt changes between 1994 and 2009:

• Oct-94 $5,267,000,000
• Oct-95 $6,080,000,000
• Oct-96 $7,139,000,000
• Oct-97 $8,189,000,000
• Oct-98 $9,558,000,000
• Oct-99 $11,819,000,000
• Oct-00 $14,312,000,000
• Oct-01 $17,020,000,000
• Oct-02 $20,123,000,000
• Oct-03 $22,721,000,000
• Oct-04 $25,716,000,000
• Oct-05 $29,396,000,000
• Oct-06 $34,226,000,000
• Oct-07 $37,554,000,000
• Oct-08 $40,029,000,000  :  This equals a 760% growth from the 1994 figure (based on Gross Total figure)
• Oct-09 $41,127,000,000

The above data was extrapolated from this RBA spreadsheet: http://www.rba.gov.au/payments-system/resources/statistics/rps.xls

United Kingdom Credit Card Debt changes between 1994 and 2009:

• Oct – 1994 £9,453,209,396
• Oct – 1995 £11,243,654,654
• Oct – 1996 £14,398,680,746
• Oct – 1997 £18,164,900,258
• Oct – 1998 £22,884,344,616
• Oct – 1999 £28,040,208,858
• Oct – 2000 £33,604,678,070
• Oct – 2001 £38,196,936,084
• Oct – 2002 £45,198,419,247
• Oct – 2003 £52,907,070,507
• Oct – 2004 £60,951,509,687
• Oct – 2005 £66,090,625,032
• Oct – 2006 £65,257,135,933
• Oct – 2007 £64,221,709,742
• Oct – 2008 £65,580,040,237  :  This equals a 694% growth from the 1994 figure (based on Gross Total figure)

Credit outstanding fell by £1.1 billion in July 2009 (partly reflecting a write-off of accumulated debt by one institution) to stand at £62.6 billion, some £2.6 billion lower than a year earlier.
The proportion of balances bearing interest changed from  71.9% in Oct 1995 to 73.2% in Oct 2008.
The above UK data was sourced from http://www.bba.org.uk/bba/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=470&a=16488

Population figures used were:

UK population

• 1994 57,862,000
• 2004 59,835,000
• 2008 61,383,000
  • http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1305
  • http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=6

Australia Population

• 1994 17,951,481
• 2004 20,252,132
• 2008 21,517,786
  • http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3105.0.65.001

UK Credit Card Debt

Jan 2009 :
The average UK adult owns nearly 2.5 credit cards and has debts on those approaching £2,300
www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/content/articles/2009/01/27/raw_money_feature.shtml

Australian Credit Card Debt

July 2009 :
The average Australian credit card balance in July 2009 was $3,106
www.smh.com.au/business/credit-card-debt-falls-at-fastest-rate-in-14-years-20090917-fssg.html

American Credit Card Debt

December 2008 :
The average American household with a credit card held $10,679 in credit card debt at the end of 2008.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8009299.stm

However, some sources quote: “60% of U.S. consumers always (or usually) pay off their bills in full each month”

The above indicates that the UK has about 33% higher average credit card debts than Australia, but the USA has about 330% higher than Australia.