Personal loans tumble as consumers remain cautious

Veda Advantage’s Consumer Credit Demand Index has revealed fewer Australians have enquired after, and made applications for, personal loans in 2008 than they did in 2007.

Veda Advantage reported a 4.3% decrease in personal loan enquiries in the first half of 2008, against the same period in 2007.

Also, applications for personal loans fell 2.7% in the second quarter of 2008, against the first. While, in the period April to June 2008, credit card enquiries grew by 7.9% to more than 60,000 enquiries.

The combined figure of personal loans and credit card applications has remained flat in the first half of 2008.

Rory Matthews, Veda Advantage CEO, said the higher cost of living, interest rates hikes and a volatile global economy, combined with a tightening of lending criteria in the banks has caused the levelling off in credit demand.

He added that the Veda Consumer Credit Demand Index measures the number of individual credit applications, not their dollar value. So it is a measure of consumer sentiment rather than the volume, or value, of the overall credit market.

“The Consumer Credit Demand Index indicates that some consumers remain cautious in taking on more debt. We are seeing the majority of Australians favouring credit cards over personal loans,” he said.