A FICO review of over 38m UK credit cards shows that the number of active credit cards has dropped in the year to November 2013.
The report found that the number of active credit cards has dropped more than 10% to 47% since November 2012.
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The older the account, the more likely it was to be inactive. Accounts over five years old experienced a 7% drop in activity rate to 43%
Meanwhile new accounts have experienced an increase in activity rate, rising 8% to 72%. This could be due to the increase in 0% or low-rate balance transfer offers.
Another reason could be the relaxed application risk criteria as the market improves overall.
A spokesperson for FICO said "For the UK Card market it means some card issuers are missing an opportunity to retain and increase activity rates on the more mature accounts.
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By GlobalData"New account costs could be moved into activity and retention campaigns for the mature accounts with a good performance history.
"The fall could be due to a combination of factors including; customers being more cautious in their credit card spending, minimal activation campaigns in the market targeted at more mature accounts and minimal preferential pricing campaigns in the market"
