Credit cards still extremely popular

Tue, 18 Mar 2008

Credit cards are still an "extremely popular" way of borrowing money in the UK, but the rate at which spending on them is growing has slowed, one expert has claimed.

Chris Tapp, director of Credit Action, explained that two factors had led to this slowing in growth.

He said: "People are starting to borrow slightly less than they once did on credit cards and banks are starting to tighten up how much and who they lend to."

Mr Tapp pointed to the provider Egg, which cancelled a large number of credit cards earlier this year, as an extreme example of lenders tightening up their criteria.

Spending on debit and credit cards had been "astronomical" in recent years, but is now starting to level off, he concluded.

At the start of the month, MoneyExpert released data showing that 3.2 million people own five or more credit cards.

It also found that 28 per cent of people applied for a credit card in 2007.
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