The proportion of New Zealand credit card balances incurring interest rose to 71.7% by the end of February from 69.2% at the end of January, its highest level since mid-2003 and up from 68.5% in February a year ago, data released by the Reserve Bank shows. This suggests New Zealanders are allowing the interest bearing portion of their credit card balances to rise, either because they can't pay it off or they are choosing to let the balance rise because they are more confident about the future. New Zealanders had a total of NZ$5.02 billion worth of personal credit card advances outstanding at the end of February, of which NZ$3.6 billion was incurring interest. Reserve Bank data also shows that growth in overall credit card balances slowed to 2.2% in March from 2.9% in February and 8.3% in March 2008. This was its lowest rate of growth since Novemer 1992. This suggests consumers are easing back on using their credit cards, but are also unable or unwilling to repay their credit card debts.
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