Card spending almost flat, but card debt growing

Spending on debt and credit cards rose just 0.4% in July from June to NZ$4.69 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, but the amount that New Zealanders are leaving as interest bearing debt on their credit cards is rising. That suggests that New Zealanders are hunkering down to try to save more and aren't using their cards so much, but are finding it tougher each month to pay their bills. They are therefore are unable to repay as much of their outstanding balances on time before it becomes interest bearing. The proportion of debt that is interest bearing rose to 69.7%, it's highest level since February 2007.