On average, Australian credit card holders had a balance of $3,149 last November, say analysts at CommSec Research.
Late last year, the average balance was closer to $3,070 – the lowest it had been for almost nine years. While there has been a small increase since then, credit card debt remains well contained.
“Not surprisingly, more of us are choosing to pay off our purchases by the due date, a practice common across major economies,” CommSec researchers said.
While the number of transactions for each account has increased to 13.4 in November from 12.7 a year ago, Australians are using their cards for smaller purchases with the value per transaction continuing to fall. The average value November dropped to $114.36.
For credit cards attracting interest charges, the average outstanding balance increased by $22.50 in November reaching a total of $1,933.20. This was down by 1.5% from a year ago however.
Finally, the average credit card limit increased by $10 to $9,066.90 last November. This figure was down by 0.2% over the year. Overall, 34.7% of Australians reached their credit card limits, a figure that rose slightly from 33.9%.
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