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Bank of England credit and savings data

ended 02. June 2021

Tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 09:30, the Bank of England is publishing consumer credit and savings data for April. You can see the March report here.

We want your views on activity and trends in April, e.g.

  • Did people continue to pay down debt, as has been the case in previous months?
  • Did people continue to put money into deposit accounts or did they start to spend in April as the economy opened up?
  • How healthy is the average household's finances in your opinion (in terms of debt and savings)?
  • Do you expect household finances to improve or deteriorate later this year, and why?

As ever, be short and punchy in your alert_responses. Journalists want soundbites not essays.

If you're a Premium user, your alert_responses will be edited to ensure they are as strong as possible and grammatically tight. 

IMPORTANT: PLEASE ENSURE YOU SELECT AN EXPERT BEFORE YOU RESPOND AND THAT THE EXPERT HAS A PICTURE ATTACHED.

2 responses from the Newspage community

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Mark DyasonVerified
Owner at Edinburgh Mortgage Advice
"Overall, the lockdowns of the past year have resulted in more people having more money in their pockets, or squirrelled away in savings accounts. "Many people have found themselves with lump sums built up over lockdown and are now looking at ways to harness this buying power to improve their lifestyles. "Clients who paid down debt are now looking to see what they are willing to take on further credit for. The number of car sales in my local area is an indicator that people are back making larger purchases. "People with less debt or more savings now find themselves with significantly greater buying power than they had pre-Covid and I expect larger homes, home improvements, and new cars to be significant outlets for this spending power. "Over the summer, consumer credit will deteriorate from the artificial high of recent months, however the picture will now return to pre-Covid levels for some time as people enjoy greater financial freedom the enforced lack of spending has brought. "The black swan is the end of furlough, its impact on employment and knock on effect on household finances. We need to see how this works, however the labour market is strong currently and we may see roles available for those displaced.
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Rhys SchofieldVerified
Brand Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
"Borrowers, these days, are coming to us with a lot less personal debt. Enquiries for debt consolidation mortgages are lower than I have seen in 14 years in the industry. "Only a hardy few seem to be spending big money on foreign holidays, with many others using the cash accumulated during repeated lockdowns to pay down debt or become less dependent on plastic. "Homeownership is the real aspiration for most young people and what we are seeing in the mortgage market is a growing pool of ready-to-react first time buyers, cash rich after a year of limited spending, desperate to buy and get onto the housing ladder and invest in something rather than fritter it away on renting a property. "Generation buy is certainly ready to do so but they just need the housing stock to actually do that."