June sees jump in credit and charge card transactions
Figures that were recently released by the Reserve Bank of Australia have shown that there was a jump in credit and charge card spending for the month of June in Australia.
Whilst many recent reports have suggested that consumers in Australia are becoming far more stringent when it comes to spending on their credit cards due to the financial crisis, figures that were recently released by the Reserve Bank of Australia have shown that for the month of June there was a jump in the level of spending on credit and charge cards.
However, whilst there was a sharp jump in credit and charge card use for the month of June, industry experts have said that overall spending by consumers is still low as a result of the ongoing financial crisis and the worrying climate. The figures came from the latest bulletin from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
According to the data a total of over $19.3 billion was spent on credit and charge cards by Australians for the month of June, and this reflected a massive 9.2 percent from the previous month. It also reflected the highest monthly spend on credit and charge cards this year. The data also showed that there was an increase of nearly fifteen percent in cash advances.
However, officials have been quick to point out that whilst spending on credit and charge cards has increased consumers have also been increasing their repayments, and over $19.3 billion was repaid on credit cards for the month of June, which was 7.2 percent more than was paid off in the previous month.
One industry official said: “The latest reading on credit card usage really highlights the impact of the global financial crisis on the average consumer. Consumers continue to embrace the new era of consumer conservatism.”
Source - The Australian