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 increased to £4.5 billion in November, following a decrease of £1.0 billion to £4.2 billion in October.
- In November, net mortgage approvals for house purchase fell by 500 to 64,500. By contrast, approvals for remortgaging rose by 3,200 to 36,600 in November.
- Net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals increased to £2.1 billion in November from £1.7 billion in October. Within this, net borrowing through credit cards was £1.0 billion in November, up from £0.7 billion in October. Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit (such as car dealership finance and personal loans) slightly increased in November, to £1.1 billion from £1.0 billion.
- Private non-financial corporations (PNFCs) borrowed, on net, £5.8 billion from capital markets and banks and building societies in November, following net repayments of £4.8 billion in October.
- The net flow of sterling money (known as M4ex) was £15.3 billion in November, compared to £8.8 billion in October, and the highest since January 2025 (£25.4 billion). This was largely driven by households and non-intermediate other financial corporations (NIOFCs) increasing their holdings of money by £8.1 billion and £6.1 billion respectively.
- The flow of sterling net lending to private sector companies and households (M4Lex) was £15.5bn in November, compared to £13.3 billion in the previous month. November’s lending was driven by NIOFCs, households, and PNFCs borrowing £5.9 billion, £5.5 billion, and £4.1 billion respectively.
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 increased to £4.5 billion in November, following a decrease of £1.0 billion to £4.2 billion in October. In November, gross lending decreased by £0.6 billion to £23.7 billion, while gross repayments decreased by £3.1 billion to £19.4 billion. The annual growth rate for net mortgage lending increased to 3.3% in November, from 3.2% in the previous month, the highest since January 2023 (3.4%).
Net mortgage approvals (that is, approvals net of cancellations) for house purchase, which is an indicator of future borrowing, fell by 500 to 64,500 in November. By contrast, approvals for remortgaging (which only capture remortgaging with a different lender) rose by 3,200 to 36,600 in November (Chart 1).
Chart 1: Mortgage approvals
Seasonally adjusted
The ‘effective’ interest rate – the actual interest paid – on newly drawn mortgages increased for the first time since February 2025 (4.53%), to 4.20% in November from 4.17% in October. The rate on the outstanding stock of mortgages was 3.90% in November, up from 3.89% in the previous months.
Consumer credit (M&C Tables B and C):
Net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals increased to £2.1 billion in November from £1.7 billion in October (Chart 2). Net borrowing through credit cards was £1.0 billion in November, up from £0.7 billion in October. Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit (such as car dealership finance and personal loans) slightly increased in November, to £1.1 billion from £1.0 billion.
The annual growth rate for all consumer credit rose to 8.1% in November, from 7.5% in the previous month. Over the same period, the annual growth rate for credit card borrowing increased to 12.1% from 10.9%, the highest since January 2024 (12.5%), while the annual growth rate for other forms of consumer credit increased to 6.3% from 6.0%, the highest since September 2024 (6.6%).
Chart 2: Consumer credit
Seasonally adjusted
The effective interest rate on interest-charging overdrafts decreased by 21 basis points to 21.57% in November. The effective rate on new personal loans to individuals increased for the fourth consecutive month, to 8.68% in November from 8.39% in October. The effective rate on interest-charging credit cards also increased in November, to 21.60% from 21.54%.
Households’ deposits (M&C Table J):
Households deposited an additional £8.1 billion with banks and building societies in November, up from £6.7 billion in October. This was driven by households depositing an additional £7.0 billion into interest-bearing sight deposit accounts, £5.1 billion into ISAs, and £2.1 billion into non-interest bearing accounts (Chart 3). These inflows were slightly offset by withdrawals of £1.2 billion from interest-bearing time deposit accounts.
Chart 3: Breakdown of households’ deposits (Household M4)
Seasonally adjusted net flow
The effective interest rate paid on individuals’ new time deposits with banks and building societies decreased to 3.81% in November from 3.84% in October. The effective rate on the outstanding stock of time deposits was 3.36% in November, down from 3.37% in the previous month, continuing the downward trend observed since September 2024. Similarly, the effective rate on the outstanding stock of sight deposits decreased to 1.75% from 1.77% in October.
Lending to and deposits from businesses
Businesses’ borrowing from banks (M&C Tables G-I):
In November, UK non-financial businesses – private non-financial companies (PNFCs) and public corporations – borrowed, on net, £6.3 billion of loans from banks and building societies (including overdrafts), following net repayments of £1.2 billion in October. Within this measure, large non-financial businesses borrowed, on net, £6.0 billion of loans in November, compared to net repayments of £1.1 billion in October. Over the same period, small and medium-sized non-financial businesses (SMEs) borrowed, on net, £0.2 billion of loans, compared to net repayments of £0.1 billion in the previous month.
The annual growth rate of borrowing by large businesses was 7.2% in November, up from 6.9% in October. The annual growth rate of borrowing by SMEs also increased in November, to 1.9% from 1.6%, and the highest since July 2021 (2.9%) (Chart 4).
Chart 4: Annual growth of lending to SMEs and large businesses
Seasonally adjusted
The effective interest rate on new loans from banks to UK PNFCs decreased by 13 basis points, to 5.64% in November. The effective interest rate on new loans to SMEs fell back to 6.18% in November, following an increase to 6.26% in October.
Net Finance Raised (M&C Table F):
PNFCs borrowed, on net, £5.8 billion from capital markets and banks and building societies in November, following net repayments of £4.8 billion in October. This was driven by £4.6 billion of net borrowing of loans from banks and building societies, and £0.3 billion of net equity issuances. These were slightly offset by £0.2 billion of net commercial paper redemptions, and £0.1 billion of net bond redemptions (Chart 5).
Chart 5: Net finance raised by PNFCs
Seasonally adjusted net flow
Businesses’ deposits:
In November, UK non-financial businesses deposited, on net, £1.4 billion with banks and building societies in all currencies, following net withdrawals of £5.5 billion in October. The effective rate on new time deposits from PNFCs slightly increased in November, to 3.47% from 3.46%. The effective rate on stock sight deposits was 2.05% in November, down from 2.06% in the previous month.
Aggregate money (M4ex) and lending (M4Lex) (M&C Tables J and K)
The net flow of sterling money (known as M4ex) was £15.3 billion in November, compared to £8.8 billion in October, and the highest since January 2025 (£25.4 billion). This was largely driven by households and non-intermediate other financial corporations (NIOFCs) increasing their holdings of money by £8.1 billion and £6.1 billion respectively. PNFCs also increased their holdings of money, by £1.1 billion in November.
The flow of sterling net lending to private sector companies and households (M4Lex) was £15.5bn in November, compared to £13.3 billion in the previous month. November’s lending was driven by NIOFCs, households, and PNFCs borrowing £5.9 billion, £5.5 billion, and £4.1 billion respectively.
Queries
If you have any comments or queries about this release, please email DSD_MS@bankofengland.co.uk.
Next release date: 30 January 2026
