Consumer credit demand slowing
Australia’s overall demand for credit slowed in the first quarter of calendar year 2008, according to risk information provider Veda Advantage.
It found credit card and personal loan enquiries were down 0.2 per cent for the quarter, compared to the same period last year.
Personal loan enquiries were down by 2.3 per cent compared year-on-year with 2007, while credit card enquiries rose by 1.5 per cent.
Veda also found families are spending a significant amount of their income on debt repayments, with 1.3 million Australians spending more than half their gross household incomes on debt, and 1.8 million Australians spending more than 40 per cent of their income on repayments.
Thirty-one per cent of Australians live in households that spend 30 per cent of their income on debt repayments.
Analysis of the data also revealed exposure to debt increases with income levels.
While 18 per cent of Australians with a gross household income of less than $40,000 spent 35 per cent or more of their income on debt, this proportion rises to 21 per cent of Australians with household incomes between $40,000 and $70,000, while 27 per cent of Australian households earning a household income of more than $90,000 are currently spending 35 per cent or more of their income repaying debt.
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