Total credit card receivables grew by 4.3% or $3.2 billion in the fourth quarter last year, after rising 0.8% in the previous quarter, the Monetary Authority announced today.

In its survey on credit card lending, it was also found the transfer of rescheduled receivables outside the surveyed institutions' credit card portfolios fell to $143 million in the fourth quarter from $144 million in the previous quarter.

The total number of credit card accounts fell by 1%.

The rollover amount, which reflects the amount of borrowing by customers using their credit cards, fell to $23.8 billion at the end of December from $23.9 billion at the end of September.

The charge-off amount rose to $584 million, or 0.77% of average receivables, in the fourth quarter from $505 million in the previous quarter. The quarterly annualised charge-off ratio rose to 3.09% from 2.74% in the previous quarter.