UK statistics
UK Credit Card Debt 2026: Total + Per-Household + Interest Burden
UK consumer credit card debt is projected to hit £79 billion by end-2026, up from £76.1bn in August 2025 (+6.6% YoY). Average household credit card balance £2,601 in 2025 per industry analysis. UK consumers are projected to pay £19.3 billion in credit card interest during 2026 - £342 per UK adult. 71% of StepChange debt-advice clients had credit card debt in January 2026.
Headline numbers
- UK total credit card debt end-2026 projection
- £79bn
- Average UK household credit card balance
- £2,601
- Total UK credit card interest paid 2026
- £19.3bn
+6.6% YoY from £76.1bn Aug 2025
near all-time high
£342 per UK adult
The detail
UK consumer credit card debt sits at £76.1 billion (August 2025, +6.6% year-on-year per Bank of England Money and Credit statistics). End-2026 projection £79bn per third-party aggregator analysis of BoE consumer credit data. Credit card balances are growing materially faster than overall consumer credit.
Average household credit card balance of £2,601 (2025) is approaching the pre-2008 high. The headline disguises wide distribution: most balance is held by a minority of households. StepChange January 2026 client data showed 71% of debt-advice clients had credit card debt - the most common debt type among those seeking help.
Projected 2026 interest burden of £19.3bn (£342 per UK adult) reflects the high APRs typical of UK credit cards - 22% to 35% APR even after the Bank of England base rate cuts of 2024-25. Persistent-debt definition (FCA CONC 6.7) catches an estimated 2.5 million UK adults who have paid more in interest + fees than principal over 18 months.
For tax + financial planning, credit card debt at 22-35% APR dominates almost any other tax-efficient saving opportunity. Even the 62% PA-taper pension-sacrifice sweet spot returns 62p per £1 sacrificed - a credit card balance at 30% APR costs more than that just in interest. Card debt clearance should usually precede all other discretionary saving (excepting employer pension match which returns 100%).
Sources
- Bank of England - Money and Credit statistics (consumer credit + credit card balances) (retrieved 2026-06-24)
- StepChange - Personal debt statistics monthly client report Jan 2026 (debt-advice client mix) (retrieved 2026-06-24)
- House of Commons Library - Household debt: statistics and impact on economy (retrieved 2026-06-24)
- Our methodology & full source list →
Related statistics
- Average UK savings
The FCA Financial Lives Survey 2024 (published May 2025) found that 90% of UK adults have some cash savings - but the median saver holds just £5,000-£5,999. One in ten UK adults have zero cash savings; 21% have less than £1,000 to draw on in an emergency. Financial resilience is concentrated: a relatively small minority of UK adults hold the majority of household cash savings.
- UK Bank Rate
The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee voted by majority of 7-2 to maintain the Bank Rate at 3.75% at its meeting ending 17 June 2026, with two members favouring a 25bps rise to 4.00%. CPI inflation has fallen to 2.8%, although the MPC noted it is expected to rise later in 2026 as energy-price effects pass through. The next MPC decision is scheduled for 30 July 2026.
- UK household saving ratio
The UK household saving ratio - the share of disposable income that households save rather than spend - was 9.9% in Q4 2025 per ONS Quarterly Sector Accounts (released 31 March 2026). The figure follows 10.9% in Q1 2025 and 9.5% in Q3 2025, suggesting the saving rate is normalising downwards from the pandemic-driven peak above 23% in Q2 2020 but remains above the pre-pandemic 5-7% range.