Gross new consumer lending in the United Kingdom (UK) 2007-2023

Consumer lending, excluding student loans, in the United Kingdom (UK) reached nearly 30 billion British pounds in July 2023. These figures have thus recovered from the stark decline suffered in April 2020. The value of new consumer credit granted also decreased during the economic crisis of 2007, although more gradually. The category consumer lending includes loans and advances to individuals through credit cards and personal loans. The majority of consumer credit is through credit card lending.

Mortgage lending

The value of outstanding mortgage lending in the UK is far higher than that of consumer credit. Additionally, the outstanding volume of consumer credit has decreased since 2018, while mortgages kept rising. In the second quarter of 2021, the value of gross new mortgage lending in the UK amounted to over 89 billion British pounds. Which is twice higher than in the second quarter of 2020, when new mortgage lending decreased significantly due to the uncertainty created by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Credit card payments

With billions of British pounds in gross consumer lending through credit cards, it’s unsurprising that there are almost as many credit cards as people in the UK. The number of credit cards peaked in February 2020, and it slightly decreased in the following months. However, there were still nearly 60 million credit cards in issue in the UK by the end of 2021. The average amount spent per purchase on credit cards in the UK is over 51 British pounds in June 2021. This figure is much lower than the spending limit of most credit cards.