UK consumer credit slumped in January as lockdown took hold
Consumer borrowing in January fell at its fastest pace since May last year as the country returned to lockdown, Bank of England data showed on Monday.
Unsecured lending to consumers tumbled by £2.4bn, the biggest drop since last May’s £4.5bn hit.
This takes the year-on-year fall to 8.9 per cent, the biggest decline since monthly records began in 1994.
The drop was more than a median forecast of a £1.9bn drop predicted by a Reuters poll of economists.
British lenders approved almost 99,000 mortgages in January, down by around 4,000 from December.