The amount of money owed by consumers has edged closer to the symbolic £1 trillion mark, official figures show.
According to the Bank of England, money owed on cards, mortgages, loans and overdrafts rose by £10.2bn in May.
In total, consumers now owe £993bn, just short of the £1 trillion milestone, now expected next month.
The Bank of England has warned that the historically high level of UK household debt may pose "considerable challenges" to UK financial stability.
'Ambiguous' data
Spending on unsecured credit, such as credit cards and personal loans, accelerated during May, rising by £1.58bn, up from £1.29bn in April.
And the number of new mortgage approvals - loans agreed but not yet made - rose to 127,000 from 124,000 in April, the bank said.
However, mortgage lending grew at its slowest rate for nine months.
Secured lending rose by £8.6bn in May, down from a gain of £9.4bn in April, indicating recent interest rate rises might be having an effect.
Ross Walker of RBS Financial Markets said: "Underlying activity in the housing market still looks resilient but recent rate rises do seem to have (belatedly) had some effect in quelling consumers' appetite for borrowing."
The Bank of England has raised rates four times since November, taking the base rate to 4.50%.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the Bank of England's rate-setting body, meets next week to decide if rates will rise again.
James Carrick, an economist at ABN Amro, said the data was "ambiguous" and indicated mortgage borrowers would have a month's reprieve before the next rise.
"These numbers suggest there's less pressure on the Bank of England and perhaps they can wait until August," Mr Carrick said.
