credit card borrowing rose at its slowest pace for more than four years in July as consumers finally seemed to lose their appetite for debt, figures showed.
The amount people owed on their plastic rose by just £312m during the month, the lowest level since June 2001 and well down on the jump of £1.07bn in January, according to the Bank of England.
Overall credit card spending was also subdued compared with previous months, reaching £10.9bn - the lowest figure since February last year.
But card spending was still more than three times higher than the figure by which plastic debt rose during the month, suggesting consumers may be focusing on repaying what they owe.
The figures come as the CBI warned that retailers, who are already reeling from one of the toughest summers on the high street in years, were expecting business to deteriorate further during the coming three months
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