Fewer people took up credit cards in Singapore in 2013: credit bureau

Fewer people in Singapore took up credit cards in 2013 than they did in 2012. (Getty Images)

Fewer consumers in Singapore took up new credit cards last year as compared to the year before, reversing the growth trend seen from 2010 to 2012, said the Credit Bureau of Singapore (CBS).

In a statement on Monday, the credit bureau said the number of consumer who took up a new credit card fell 5.45 per cent to 622,548 last year.

In comparison, there were 658,400 who took up a new credit card the year before.

Yet, consumers spent more on their credit cards, with the average balance per consumer at $5,304 last year, a 4.17 per cent rise from the amount in the previous year.

This growth nonetheless was lower than the growth rates in the previous years: 6 per cent in 2012, 4.45 per cent in 2011 and 5.14 per cent in 2010.

The changes observed in the numbers in 2013 reflect an increasingly saturated market, as well as a trend of consumers using their existing cards instead of taking on new ones, according to CBS executive director William Lin.

"Reflecting this, the number of banking relationships has stayed constant at 3.1 for the last two years," he added. This figure refers to the number of banks that a single consumer has credit cards or accounts with on average.

Also, it looks like people are not paying off their credit balances as promptly as they used to. Last year, 14.64 per cent of consumers missed at least one payment on their credit accounts, up from 13.54 per cent in 2012.

Based on data from the card-issuing banks and financial institutions in Singapore, the total number of people in Singapore with credit card accounts stood at 1.44 million in December last year, CBS said.