Annual growth rate for credit card borrowing rose to 10.8% in September 2025

The annual growth rate for credit card borrowing rose to 10.8 per cent in September 2025, up from 10.5 per cent in August, according to the Bank of England's Money and Credit release published on 29 October 2025¹. The same release shows net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals was £1.5 billion in September, down from £1.7 billion in August, with net borrowing through credit cards little changed at £0.7 billion¹.

The Bank's figures cover borrowing and deposits by households and businesses and are used by its policy committees to assess trends in the UK banking system¹. Alongside the credit card growth rate, the annual growth rate for other forms of consumer credit, such as car dealership finance and personal loans, decreased slightly to 5.7 per cent from 5.8 per cent, while the annual growth rate for all consumer credit rose slightly to 7.3 per cent from 7.2 per cent¹.

On mortgage lending, net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals rose by £1.2 billion to £5.5 billion in September, the highest since March 2025¹. Net mortgage approvals for house purchase increased by 1,000 to 65,900, while approvals for remortgaging fell by 600 to 37,200¹. The effective interest rate on newly drawn mortgages decreased by 7 basis points to 4.19 per cent, the lowest since January 2023, continuing a downward trend observed since March 2025¹.

"Over the same period, the annual growth rate for credit card borrowing increased to 10.8% from 10.5%, while the annual growth rate for other forms of consumer credit decreased slightly, to 5.7% from 5.8%."

The release also sets out effective interest rates on consumer credit products in September¹:

Product	Rate in September 2025	Change from August 2025
Interest-charging overdrafts	21.86%	Up 33 basis points
New personal loans to individuals	8.34%	Up from 8.32%
Interest-charging credit cards	21.44%	Up from 21.42%

Households' deposits with banks and building societies increased by £7.9 billion in September, driven by £5.8 billion into interest-bearing sight deposit accounts, £2.4 billion into ISAs and £0.7 billion into non-interest-bearing accounts, partly offset by £1.5 billion of withdrawals from interest-bearing time deposit accounts¹. The effective interest rate paid on individuals' new time deposits was 3.82 per cent, up from 3.79 per cent, while the rate on the outstanding stock of time deposits fell 7 basis points to 3.42 per cent¹.

Why it matters for households

The credit card growth rate measures how much the total stock of card borrowing has grown over the year, so a rise to 10.8 per cent means card balances across UK households are growing faster than they were in August¹. The effective rate on interest-charging credit cards, which reflects what borrowers actually pay, was 21.44 per cent in September, up slightly from 21.42 per cent in August¹. How card borrowing is recorded can affect a credit file, and alternatives such as cardless credit and app-based credit lines and credit-builder credit cards are covered in the site's credit cards guide.

For mortgage holders and buyers, the effective rate on newly drawn mortgages fell to 4.19 per cent, the lowest since January 2023, while the rate on the outstanding stock of mortgages was unchanged at 3.89 per cent¹. That means the gap between rates paid by new borrowers and those on existing loans continued to narrow in September. Households weighing card borrowing against a fixed-sum loan can find the trade-offs set out in the guide to whether a credit card or personal loan suits their borrowing.