December credit card repayment rates reach three-year high

People are taking significant steps in getting to grips with their credit card debts.

In figures released by the Reserve Bank of Australia, the amount of money spent on credit card repayments was shown to have increased by 22 per cent over the course of December 2008 in comparison to the previous month to stand at $3.9 billion.

Such a figure is also the highest amount that has been repaid on credit cards during the month since 2006.

Meanwhile, spending on credit cards increased by 20 per cent.

"While consumers have continued to use their credit cards to buy things, certainly a significant amount has been used to repay credit cards," states Scott Haslem, chief economist for UBS, adding that the figure indicates people have used some of the money received from the government's economic stimulus package to get to grips with their credit card debts.

Meanwhile, Janet Webber, senior financial planner of Commonwealth Bank, recently urged those Aussies looking to get to grips with their Christmas credit card debts to exercise a sense of discipline in ensuring they keep up with repayments.