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UK Credit Card Spending SpreeCredit cards have given us all a way to stretch our means way beyond we can actually afford to. The disposable income of average household in UK has gone up leading to increased spending and buying power. These days consumerism is at its peak. Just a cursory glance at the past years’ statistics is good enough to say that UK market is out on a credit card spending spree. Or else there would not have been a whopping 1500 different credit card companies offering various credit card deals to the UK customers. Infact, Britons are some of the most spendthrift Europeans in this world. In 2004 they spent an unbelievable amount of 2.6bn Euros entirely through credit cards. This amount is double the amount all the other Europeans collectively spent. Out of the total 2.6bn spent, 1.38bn euros were used for online shopping, 13m on hotels and 106m in the clothes stores. This spending frenzy of the Britons has benefited the retailers at lot. They spent 662m on online shopping. The biggest cross-border spenders merely trailed behind in their spending but none matched the might of UK consumers. Also, the Britons were the largest spending travelers. The British travelers relied mostly on their travel credit cards for spending during vacation. According to a survey done in December 2001 there were over 59 million credit cards in UK wallets! A very curious statistical fact that comes out from surveys is that the credit card debt has fallen over the years. This is infact a positive revelation. It means that though Britons are spending a lot of money yet they are not spending it out of clutched hands. They are judicious spenders. The market has matured and graduated to the level where credit cards are winning the war on cash. The confidence of credit card companies is at an all time high. The growth of online and retail spending reflects how people have recognized that credit cards can provide a level of security, financial control and convenience that is impossible with cash. Every UK credit card company wants a piece of this pie. They offer a number of promotional offers like 0% balance transfers and purchases, low interest rates, low annual fees and reward programs. The Britons are also tireless. Their spending habits keep demanding more out of their credit cards. Be it discounts or debt consolidation or bad credit history support or for that matter general insurance they want it all through credit card. Even charity!
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