CreditCards.com.au - Credit Card Report October 2008
The latest credit card statistics released by the Reserve Bank of Australia(RBA)show:
- Average credit card balances rose marginally from $3,138 to $3,141.
- Average monthly purchases declined by 6.6% from July to August but increased less than 1% compared to a year ago.
- Average monthly repayments declined by 6.4% in line with purchases
- Cash advances declined by 8.8% over the month to $71.29 which is the second lowest level since August 2002.
This showed that in August credit card holders were spending less and continuing to pay off their debts at a similar rate to the month before. Compared to a year ago the increase was less than 1% which again points to the fact that consumers were tightening their belts as mortgage interest rates rose.
The total number of credit card accounts increased by 30,198 or 0.21% to 14,193,890.
The average credit limit also increased marginally from $8,522 to $8,544.
CreditCards.com.au Statistics
| Consumer Credit Cards | Average* | Best |
| Interest rate on purchases: | 17.19% | 9.55% |
| Interest rate of cash advances: | 18.36% | 9.55% |
| Annual fee: | $73.65 | $0 |
| Balance transfer interest rate: | 2.9% | |
| Balance transfer period: | 12 months |
| Business Credit Cards | Average** | Best |
| Interest rate on purchases: | 17.37% | 13.99% |
| Interest rate of cash advances: | 17.99% | 13.99% |
| Annual fee: | $86.42 | $0 |
| Balance transfer interest rate: | 2.9% | |
| Balance transfer period: | 12 months |
Find out more: compare credit cards.
*Taken from a sample of 120 consumer credit cards.
**Taken from a sample of 17 business credit cards.
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