UK consumer credit fell moderately in September

According to the report from Bank of England,  the extra amount borrowed by consumers in order to buy goods and services fell slightly to £0.8 billion in September, and for the second month in a row was below £1.1 billion, the average since July 2018.

Within consumer credit, net credit card borrowing weakened on the month to £0.1 billion, the lowest since December 2018. Net borrowing for other loans and advances was £0.7 billion, down from £0.8 billion in August and the weakest outturn since March 2019.

The annual growth rate of consumer credit was 6.0% in September. This growth rate has now been falling steadily for nearly three years. Revisions to the data this month, however, mean that the annual growth rate has been revised up slightly over the past two and a half years.

Net mortgage borrowing by households was little changed at £3.8 billion in September, close to the average of the past three years.

Net finance raised by UK businesses was relatively strong in September, rising to £9.7 billion. This primarily reflected £6.5 billion net issuance of bonds and £2.9 billion of borrowing from banks.