50 years of credit cards

Its 50 years since people started using credit cards in the UK with the issue of the first Barclaycards. The BBC has a fascinating social history feature.

For more in-depth resources try these recommendations!:

UK Card Association has a timeline of key events including introductions and milestone figures.

For history of specific cards see:

• Diners Club.
• Barclaycard history and history timeline.

How much are credit cards currently used?

UK Card Association has card expenditure statistics 2016.  Find out how much the usage of contactless cards is growing, total transactions, average per household and expenditure by sector/ type.

British Bankers Association statistics on high street lending has some general data on household borrowing levels including mortgages and consumer credit.

Payments UK  has some data on the way in which payments are made which traces a growing trend towards debit and contactless cards.  It records that the average UK adult made 648 payments during 2015, which equates to 54 payments each month; 27 in cash, 16 by debit card,  6 direct debit,  4 credit card, 2 contactless, 1 faster payments, 0.7 standing order and 0.5 by cheque.

There is a free summary on the website of 2015 transactions,  with  future predictions

Areas of concern for consumers.

The Financial Conduct Authority is currently conducting a review into the operation of the market and if it is fair to consumers. The interim reports covers whether consumers are able to shop around when choosing cards and the extent and nature of problems relating to credit card debit.

PWC report Precious Plastic published in 2015 examined overall levels of household borrowing and debt but found in 2015 that there was a confidence amongst consumers that they could meet repayments.

However debt advice charity Stepchange has a debt atlas which  records growing numbers  of consultations. It records data by region, sex and amount owed.

The Office of National Statistics has also recording growing rates of household debt. In April 2016  it stated that ‘The most common form of debt was credit or store cards, with 45% of individuals having such debt’.