Credit card numbers plummet: Half a million cancelled in a month

Matt Hale interviewed on 3AW693 talking about credit cards.

Credit cards appear to be falling out of favour with Australians, with their numbers plummeting to the lowest figure seen since 2011.

According to the Reserve Bank, the number of active cards fell to 13.9 million in September, a near decade low.

Over the past month alone half a million credit cards have been cancelled across the country.

Matt Hale, Director and Senior Financial Planner at Rising Tide Financial Services, said the reason for the decline is twofold.

“There’s a lot more scrutiny on credit cards now than what there previously was,” he told 3AW’s Tom Elliott.

“When people are applying for them the banks are asking more questions.

“Then secondly, if they’re going for other loans elsewhere, credit cards don’t look great from a servicing capacity.”

Mr Hale said buy now pay later services may also play a role in the decline.

“They’re probably using balance transfers a little bit more, and then often using Afterpay or Zippay as an alternative,” he said.