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Published: 12 May 2011

Credit card sales grew and bad card debts increased in 2010

Corrected on 9 August 2011. The correction is indicated in red. Was previously billion.

In 2010, the value of sales charged on domestic credit cards amounted to EUR 7.9 billion in Finland. The sales grew by over 8 per cent from the previous year. Retail shops accounted for the largest share and service stations for the second largest share of the card sales. Cash withdrawals and bank transfers made on domestic credit cards in Finland fell by 11 per cent to EUR 1.4 billion. This is indicated by Statistics Finland’s statistics on credit cards.

Credit card sales in 2009 and 2010, EUR million

	2009	2010	Change, %
Sales to domestic credit cards in Finland	7 328	7 944	8,4
Sales to domestic credit cards abroad	1 704	1 862	9,3
Sales to foreign credit cards in Finland	956	1 092	14,2

Purchases made with Finnish credit cards abroad amounted to EUR 1.9 billion and cash withdrawals abroad totalled EUR 255 million . Foreign cards were used in Finland to the value of EUR 1.3 billion, of which good EUR one billion were purchases and the rest cash withdrawals.

There were 3.4 million active credit card accounts in Finland in 2010. The number of active card accounts decreased by one per cent from the previous year. Thirteen per cent of the card accounts were non-interest bearing charge card accounts and 87 per cent actual interest-bearing credit card accounts. An active card account was used by an average of 43 times per year. Accounts that have been used at least once during the year are regarded as active card accounts. No statistics are compiled on the number of the cards themselves as several cards may be issued for one card account.

At the end of 2010, the stock of credit card debt totalled EUR 2.7 billion, or 6.7 per cent lower than one year earlier. Households held 75 per cent, and enterprises and entrepreneurs 25 per cent of the credit card debt. Over the year, credit card accounts generated EUR 59 million bad card debts, which is 20 per cent more than in 2009. Accounts closed due to delayed repayments numbered 58,000, and they increased by 16 per cent from the previous year.

In these statistics the term credit card is used as a general term. Credit cards can be further classified according to two characteristics: by mode of payment to actual credit cards and charge cards and by validity to general and special cards. Online debit cards, offline debit cards and direct debit cards are not included in these statistics.

Source: Credit cards 2010, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Hilkka Jaatinen (09) 1734 3630, Susanna Laine (09) 1734 3317, rahoitusmarkkinat@stat.fi

Director in charge: Ari Tyrkkö

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Updated 12.5.2011