April increase for credit card lending

The rise in credit card borrowing continued into April, the latest set of results from the Bank of England shows.

In its Lending to individuals: April 2010 report, the Bank outlined how credit card lending increased by £0.2 billion in the first month of the year's second quarter, which was consistent with the previous six-month average.

However, consumer credit as a whole fell by £0.1 billion in April, with other loans and advances declining by £0.3 billion.

Analysis of these figures by Credit Action has revealed that total UK personal debt now stands at £1,460 billion, which is more than the country's entire yearly output.

Excluding mortgages, average household debt now stands at £8,761, while the average owed by each UK adult when mortgages are included is £30,228.

As a result of this, research conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows the average household needs to spend 15 per cent of their net income to service the interest payments on their outstanding debt.