Money and Credit - July 2026

Overview

These monthly statistics on the amount of, and interest rates on, borrowing and deposits by households and businesses are used by the Bank’s policy committees to understand economic trends and developments in the UK banking system.

Key points:

• Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals decreased to £4.3 billion in July, from £7.7 billion in June, below the previous 6-month average of £5.3 billion.
• Net mortgage approvals for house purchases decreased to 56,100 in July, below an average of around 60,800 over the previous 6-months. Approvals for remortgaging increased to 34,500 in July, from 34,100 in June.
• Net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals increased to £2.0 billion in July, from £1.9 billion in June, slightly above the previous 6-month average of £1.9 billion. Within this, net borrowing through credit cards was £0.9 billion in July, down from £1.0 billion in June. Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit (such as car dealership finance and personal loans) increased to £1.1 billion in July, from £0.9 billion in June.
• Private non-financial corporations (PNFCs) raised close to no net finance in July, following net repayments of £2.4 billion in June. Within total net finance raised, bank loans amounted to £0.9 billion of repayments in July, following £4.7 billion net borrowing in June.
• The net flow of sterling money (known as M4ex) decreased to -£10.1 billion in July, from £15.5 billion in June. NIOFCs decreased their holdings of money by £14.0 billion. This was partially offset by Households and PNFCs increasing their holdings of money by £3.8 billion and £0.1 respectively. Households deposited £2.2 billion into ISAs, £1.1 billion into non-interest-bearing deposit accounts and £0.1 billion into interest-bearing time deposits. These increases were partially offset by withdrawals of £3.5 billion from interest-bearing sight deposit accounts.
• The flow of sterling net lending to private sector companies and households (M4Lex) decreased to £0.0 billion in July, following an increase of £39.1 billion in June. July’s lending was mainly driven by Households and PNFCs borrowing £5.1 billion and £1.9 billion respectively, compared with £8.0 billion and £2.6 billion in June. These increases were offset by NIOFCs repaying £7.0 billion.

References in the text point to the summary tables below.

For further statistics, please see our visual summaries, Effective Rates (ER) statistical release, Capital Issuance statistical release, and Bankstats tables.

Lending to and deposits from individuals

Mortgage lending (M&C Tables D and E):

Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals decreased to £4.3 billion in July, from £7.7 billion in June, below the previous 6-month average of £5.3 billion. The annual growth rate for net mortgage lending remained unchanged at 3.6% in July.

Secured gross lending decreased slightly to £25.9 billion in July, down from £26.9 billion in June, slightly below the 6-month average of £26.4 billion. Repayments increased slightly in July to £21.3 billion, from £21.2 billion, still above the 6-month average of £20.8 billion.

Note: The difference between gross lending minus repayments and net lending figures is due to varying seasonal adjustment methods applied across these series (see Chart 1).

Net mortgage approvals (that is, approvals net of cancellations) for house purchases, which is an indicator of future borrowing, decreased to 56,100 in July, from 58,200 in June. Approvals for remortgaging (which only capture remortgaging with a different lender) increased to 34,500 in July, from 34,100 in June.

The ‘effective’ interest rate – the actual interest paid – on newly drawn mortgages increased to 4.45% in July, from 4.35% in June. The rate on the outstanding stock of mortgages was 3.97% in July, up from 3.96% in June.

Consumer credit (M&C Tables B and C):

In July, net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals increased slightly to £2.0 billion from £1.9 billion in June (Chart 3), slightly above the previous 6-month average of £1.9 billion. Within this, net borrowing through credit cards was £0.9 billion in July, down from £1.0 billion in June. Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit (such as car dealership finance and personal loans) increased to £1.1 billion, from £0.9 billion over the same period.

The annual growth rate for all consumer credit increased slightly to 9.2% in July, from 9.1% in June. Over the same period, the annual growth rate for credit card borrowing remained unchanged at 12.5%, and the annual growth rate for other forms of consumer credit increased slightly to 7.7%, from 7.6% in June (Chart 4).

The effective interest rate on interest-charging overdrafts decreased by 57 basis points, to 20.60% in July. The effective rate on new personal loans to individuals increased to 9.86% in July from 9.67% in June. The effective rate on interest-charging credit cards decreased slightly in July, to 21.45% from 21.49%.

Households’ deposits (M&C Table J):

Households’ deposits with banks and building societies increased by £3.8 billion in July, following net deposits of £6.2 billion in June. This was driven by households depositing an additional £2.2 billion into ISAs, £1.1 billion from non-interest bearing accounts and £0.1 billion into interest-bearing time accounts. These inflows were partially offset by withdrawals of £3.5 billion from interest-bearing sight deposit accounts (Chart 5).

The effective interest rate paid on individuals’ new time deposits with banks and building societies decreased to 4.21% in July from 4.30% in June. The effective rates on the outstanding stock of time and sight deposits were 3.39% and 1.65% respectively, compared to 3.36% and 1.65% in June.

Lending to and deposits from businesses

Businesses’ borrowing from banks (M&C Tables G-I):

In July, UK non-financial businesses (PNFCs and public corporations) borrowed, on net, £1.8 billion of loans from banks and building societies (including overdrafts), following £1.6 billion of net borrowing in June. Within this measure, large non-financial businesses borrowed £1.0 billion, following net borrowing of £0.9 billion in June. Small and medium-sized non-financial businesses (SMEs) borrowed, on net, £0.8 billion in July, following net borrowing of £0.7 billion in June.

The annual growth rate of borrowing by large businesses decreased to 9.4% in July, from 10.5% in June. The annual growth rate of borrowing by SMEs remained unchanged at 4.1% over the same period (Chart 6).

The effective interest rate on new loans from banks to UK PNFCs increased by 20 basis points to 5.62% in July. The effective interest rate on new loans to SMEs increased to 6.61% from 6.36% over the same period.

Net Finance Raised (M&C Table F):

PNFCs raised close to no net finance in July, following net repayments of £2.4 billion in June. This was driven by £2.3 billion of net bond redemptions, £0.9 billion of net repayments through loans from banks and building societies and £0.8 billion of net equity buybacks. These repayments were partially offset by £1.0 billion of net commercial paper issuance (Chart 7).

Businesses’ deposits:

In July, UK non-financial businesses withdrew £9.2 billion from banks and building societies in all currencies, following net deposits of £24.4 billion in June. The effective rate on new time deposits from PNFCs remained unchanged at 3.47% in July, with the effective rate on stock sight deposits also remaining unchanged at 1.97%.

Aggregate money (M4ex) and lending (M4Lex) (M&C Tables J and K)

The net flow of sterling money (known as M4ex) decreased to -£10.1 billion in July, from £15.5 billion in June (Chart 8). Within this, households and PNFCs increased their holdings of money by £3.8 billion and £0.1 billion respectively. Non-intermediate other financial corporations (NIOFCs) decreased holdings by £14.0 billion.

The annual growth rate of M4ex decreased to 4.3% in July, from 4.9% in June.

The flow of sterling net lending to private sector companies and households (M4Lex) decreased to £0.0 billion in July, from £39.1 billion in June (Chart 9). July’s lending was mainly driven by Households and PNFCs borrowing £5.1 billion and £1.9 billion respectively, compared with £8.0 billion and £2.6 billion in June. These increases were offset by NIOFCs repaying £7.0 billion.

The annual growth rate of M4Lex decreased to 6.4% in July, from 6.7% in June.

Queries

If you have any comments or queries about this release, please email DSD_MS@bankofengland.co.uk.

Next release date: 30 September 2026