Debit card spending more popular than credit cards over Christmas

Recent figures released by the UK payments association, Apacs, has shown that over the festive period spending on debit cards proved far more popular than spending on credit cards – perhaps an indication that more people are thinking twice before getting themselves into huge amounts of debt over the Christmas and New Year period. Figures also showed a decline in credit card spending compared to the Christmas and New Year period in 2005.

Around thirty one billion pounds was spent on plastic in December 2006, with around six percent more transactions being made using plastic than in December 2005. Nearly sixty five percent of total retail sales were made using plastic in the form of both credit and debit cards. Again, almost sixty five percent of the card transactions made during the month of December was on debit cards rather than credit cards.

According to the Apacs figures nearly twenty billion pounds was spent on debit cards on December 2006, and this compared to around seventeen billion spent on debit cards in December 2005, which reflected a rise of almost fifteen and a half percent. Nearly eleven and a half billion pounds was spent on credit cards in December 2006, and this reflected a decrease of four percent from December 2005.

Sandra Quinn from Apacs stated: "We spent record amounts this Christmas and record amounts on our cards. The trend that we have seen over recent years of cards replacing cash and cheques on the high street continued this Christmas. Spending on debit cards in particular has dramatically increased and now stands at almost double the level of spending on credit cards. Our figures show that cardholders are becoming more responsible in the way that they borrow and are clearly focusing on repayments, with the majority of spending being done by debit rather than credit cards."

Tom Smith
6th February 2007