5th June 2026
The evidence suggests that credit card debt in Scotland is increasing, although Scotland-specific figures are not collected as comprehensively as UK-wide figures.
If interest rates rise as some analysts are predicting the situation for people with credit card debt will get much worse.
Some of the strongest recent evidence comes from the debt charity StepChange Scotland.
Its latest annual report found that:
Average unsecured debt and arrears among Scots seeking debt advice rose by 10% in 2025 to £20,116 per client, the highest level recorded in more than a decade.
Credit card debt remains the single most common type of debt. Around 66% of StepChange Scotland clients had credit card debt in the first half of 2025, up from 61% a year earlier.
More people are using credit to cover everyday living costs rather than discretionary spending, suggesting financial pressure rather than consumer confidence is driving the increase.
There are also wider signs of growing financial stress:
Personal insolvencies in Scotland increased by almost 20% in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier.
Energy debt, council tax arrears and other household debts have risen sharply since the cost-of-living crisis.
How much credit card debt is there?
The difficulty is that official Scottish statistics do not publish a total national credit card debt figure equivalent to GDP or public debt statistics.
Using UK-wide data as a guide
UK credit card borrowing remains close to record levels.
Scotland has about 8% of the UK population, so a rough population-based estimate would suggest Scottish households collectively owe many billions of pounds on credit cards, likely in the region of £8–12 billion. However, this is only an estimate and not an official figure.
Is Scotland worse than the rest of the UK?
The picture is mixed
Scotland generally has slightly lower household debt than parts of southern England because house prices and mortgage borrowing are lower. However:
A higher proportion of Scottish households report having little or no savings.
Rising utility bills, council tax debt and reliance on consumer credit are causing concern among debt charities.
What happens next?
The key issue is interest rates. Many credit cards still charge 25–35% APR. If households continue using cards to bridge gaps between income and essential spending, balances can grow very quickly. Debt charities are warning that the cost-of-living crisis has evolved into a debt crisis for many lower-income households.