In the second quarter of this year, we talked about how the average credit card balance per consumer continued to grow, but there was some evidence of a slowdown in consumer spending. The increase in balances then is attributed to a reduction in credit card payment rates. In other words, many consumers are paying a smaller percentage of their balance owing than they previously may have done.
We have seen that consumers under the age of 35 are seeing some of the fastest decline in card payment levels. They appear to be amongst those who are less and less able to pay their balances in full. We have seen that the increase in card balances for consumers of all ages was more significant for mortgage holders. For people who are carrying a mortgage, we saw the average credit card balance jump by almost 12% compared to the same period last year, whereas non-mortgage holders had an increase of about 7.7%. What we glean from that is that mortgage holders were carrying balances month to month on their credit cards at a rate that is increasing faster than the balance increases for non-mortgage holders.