The latest figures from February confirm the overall sentiment that the housing market is slowing down, with an 11% drop in mortgage approvals, and the new car registration figures for March show a near 16% year on year fall.   The restaurant trade is having a horrible time, with high profile chain failures such as Jamie's Italian, and many of the other well known high street brands slimming down their portfolios.  That has all the hallmarks of consumers concerned about Brexit and general economic uncertainty keeping their hands and wallets firmly in their pockets.  

However the continuing rise in credit card debt each month is hard to reconcile.  Are we putting off the big financial decisions in life, but continuing to put the summer holiday on plastic, or are families having to resort to credit cards just to make ends meet?