Credit card transactions $19.6b in May

Credit and charge card transactions totalled $19.631b in May, according to data released by the RBA.

AAP

THE total value of credit and charge card transactions, including advances, was $19.631 billion in May, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on Monday.

That was an increase from $17.960 billion in April, while the number of transactions was 131.035 million in May, up from 123.289 million in April.

The figures are not seasonally adjusted.

Between May 2009 and May 2010, the value of transactions was up by 10.5 per cent, compared with an average growth rate over the previous five years of 6.8 per cent.

Total credit and charge card balances outstanding rose to $47.430 billion in May from $47.126 billion in April.

Compared with 12 months earlier, total credit and charge card balances outstanding were up by 7.1 per cent, a smaller increase than the average annual growth rate of 10.2 per cent over the preceding five years.

The average credit card and charge account balance increased by five per cent to 3,248.608 May in from 3,092.811 a year before, in line with average annual growth of 4.9 per cent over the five years to May 2009.

Credit and charge card repayments rose to $19.833 billion in May from $18.806 billion in April.

The annual increase in repayments was 10.2 per cent, compared with an average of 7.3 per cent over the preceding five years.

The total number of EFTPOS transactions, including both purchases and cash-outs, was 183.795 million worth $12.037 billion in May, from 177.643 million worth $11.618 billion in April.

The value of EFTPOS transactions rose by 5.9 per cent over the 12 months to May 2010, less than half the average growth rate of 14.0 per cent over the five years to May 2009.