The number of personal loans taken out by Brits slowed during March, according to new data from the British Bankers' Association (BBA).
The BBA’s latest High-Street Banking report revealed that new lending through personal loans in March "eased back" from the value of personal loans issued the previous month and was "more than matched by repayments ".
While Britons borrowed less in terms of personal loans, the report also showed that credit card transactions increased by 1.3 per cent in March, largely due to the growth in official retail sales volumes.
However, it noted that average value of transactions dropped by 5 per cent month-on-month, causing the level of new credit card spending to fall by 4.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
Commenting on the figures, David Dooks, director of statistics at the BBA, said that low interest rates were continuing to influence customer behaviour.
"People are holding more cash in their everyday accounts, rather than building up savings accounts, and overall unsecured borrowing levels are standing still," he explained.
According to debt charity Credit Action, total UK personal debt at the end of March totalled £1,460bn, up 0.9 per cent from last year’s figure.





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