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Australian consumers made 111.2 million credit and charge card transactions in February, down 0.9% from 112.2 million for the same month in 2008, according to the country's central bank. The value of those transactions decreased 2.3%, to AU$17.1 billion (US$12.3 billion or 9.4 billion euros) from AU$17.5 billion in February 2008, the Reserve Bank says. The value of cash advances fell 6.5%, to AU$963 million from AU$1.03 billion last year. Meanwhile, credit card repayments remained relatively stable, at about AU$16.7 billion. "This is not really good news," Joshua Zenas, financial analyst at Brisbane-based Canstar Cannex, tells CardLine Global. "If it continues, it may lead to huge defaults in credit card payments." Zenas says better-off cardholders may have paid down their debts, leaving the remaining debt in the hands of people who have trouble paying. According to Reserve Bank of Australia, the country had 14.4 million credit cards in circulation in February, an increase of 2.9% from the same time last year.
