‘Challenges remain’ for many households despite slowdown in consumer credit growth

The Bank of England has today published its latest monthly Money and Credit figures showing consumer credit growth slowed to 6.4 percent in the year to March 2019.

Outstanding balances for consumer credit now stand at £216.7 billion.

Jane Tully, director of external affairs at the Money Advice Trust, the charity that runs National Debtline and Business Debtline, said: “Although the rate of consumer credit growth is easing, the amount owed continues to creep up, and now stands at £216.7bn.

“For the majority of households, meeting repayments is unlikely to be an issue at the moment.

“However, challenges remain for a significant minority of people struggling to cover essential day-to-day costs and where credit is often used to plug gaps in household budgets. Nearly one in four (37%) callers to National Debtline surveyed last year said they put food or groceries on credit with one in five (19%) using credit to pay for energy bills.

“I encourage anyone struggling to make ends meet to contact a free debt advice service like National Debtline as soon as possible.”