Australians still aren’t rushing back to their plastic cards in droves, according to a report released today by the Reserve Bank of Australia. The total value of all credit card transactions fell by 0.3%, from $19.246 billion in September to $19.189 in October. Australians concentrated on reducing debt before rates rose, with total repayments increasing 0.2% to $19.647 billion. The figures include cash advances.

The average balance on an Australian credit card declined by $4, from $3,145 in September to $3,141 in October, although it was $3,111 in October 2008. The total amount of outstanding balances on all Australian credit cards increased to $45.153 billion in October from $45.139 billion in September, as the number of credit cards in use rose 0.2% to 14.375 million active accounts.

This is the slowest rate of growth for credit cards in at least five years, averaging 1.0% in 2009 as compared to an average of 5.8% through that previous time period.

EFTPOS transactions, on the other hand, increased by 3.7% to $12.078 billion in October, from $11.645 billion in September. The figures include cash out requests and reflect an increase of 12.3% since October of 2008.

Source: news.smh.com.au