The total value of credit card and charge card transactions, including cash advances, rose by 9.6% in March this year. Australians spent $18.78 billion on their credit cards and charge cards in March, up from $17.13 billion the previous month.
In February total credit card and charge card balances outstanding fell by 1% to $44.358 billion, from $44.799 billion. The value of cash advances on credit cards and charge cards increased by 7.4% to $1.034 billion in March, from $963 million in February. The number of credit card and charge card accounts increased by 11,000 in March, while the number of purchases using credit cards rose by 13.3%.
Total credit card and charge card balances outstanding rose by 4.3% over the past 12 months, compared with an average of 12.6% over the preceding five years.
