Billions spent on plastic in the UK

According to recent figures from the card clearance agency APACS spenders in the UK went mad with their plastic last year. APACS figures show that around £320 billion was spent on plastic by UK consumers last year, reflecting the immense popularity of credit and debit cards. The ease and flexibility of credit cards and debit cards has made them increasingly popular, and more and more people are starting to rely on cashless shopping simply by using their cards.

An APACS official stated that the figures made it clear just how popular credit and debit card spending had become in the UK, and this popularity was likely to keep rising. She added: "Over the next ten years it is expected that spending on plastic cards will continue to dominate the payments arena, accounting for 89 per cent of growth in UK payment volumes by 2016."

Around a third of all spending in the UK is performed through card transactions. Of the card transactions that are made by UK spenders around 60% are debit card transactions and the remaining 40% are credit card transactions. Card transactions have enjoyed growth of over 250% over the past ten years, and despite worries about card fraud most people still continue to enjoy the convenience that comes with using plastic to make payments.

Another reason why card transactions may have risen comes with the increased popularity of the Internet, particularly for making purchases such as clothes, entertainment, holidays, and even groceries. Many people enjoy making purchases online and use their credit and debit cards to conduct these transactions. Figures also showed that the popularity of cheques had dropped quite significantly over the past ten years with more and more people turning to plastic rather than paper.

Tom Smith
13th August 2007