Hong Kong credit card balances rise as revolving lines fall

Personal loans and credit cards grow whilst revolving credit and loan-on-card shrink.

Hong Kong’s consumer credit market recorded divergent movements across product types in the first quarter of 2026, with credit cards and personal loans posting balance growth whilst revolving lines and loan-on-card products declined.

Credit card outstanding balances rose 4.9% year on year (YoY), whilst average balances per consumer increased 3.6% YoY. The total number of card accounts fell 2.1% YoY, , according to TransUnion’s Hong Kong Industry Insights Report. 

Credit card delinquency remained broadly stable. Balance-level delinquency rose by one basis point to 0.23%, whilst account-level delinquency was largely unchanged.

Personal loan outstanding balances increased 3.6% YoY whilst new personal loan amounts rose 12.1% YoY, and total personal loan accounts increased 1.3% YoY. Average balances per consumer rose 2.7%.

Personal loan delinquency declined at both account and consumer levels, with account-level delinquency down two basis points to 0.84% and consumer-level delinquency down five basis points to 0.95%.

Revolving line originations fell 40% YoY. The number of consumers carrying revolving balances declined 9.7% YoY, whilst outstanding balances decreased 1.6% YoY.

Loan-on-card originations declined 28.3% YoY. Total accounts fell 12.3% YoY, outstanding balances declined 5.6% YoY, and the number of consumers with active balances decreased 12.6% YoY.

TransUnion data showed Gen Z accounted for 29.4% of new credit card originations and 32.9% of revolving line originations in the period.

The report also cited Hong Kong GDP growth of 5.9% in Q1 2026 and inflation of 1.7% in February and March, based on official government data.