Consumers spend a fortune on plastic in the UK

Consumers in the UK have always been a nation of plastic lovers, with millions of people enjoying the ease, convenience, and flexibility of spending on the plastic.

Recent figures released from the Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS) has revealed just how much consumers in the UK rely on their plastic, with over £320 billion being spent on credit and debit card transactions in the UK last year.

According to APACS around £321 billion was spent on plastic last year by UK consumers, with high levels of credit and debit card transactions taking place. In 2005 card based retail transactions began to overtake cash transactions, and this is a trend that has continued, as reflected by the figures released by APACS.

Last year's figures also represent a threefold increase over the last decade, reflecting the popularity of credit and debit card use amongst UK consumers.

Card transactions now account for around a third of all spending in the UK, and just over 60% of card based transactions are made through debit cards with the remainder being made through credit cards. The use of personal cheques to make transactions has dropped dramatically, and cheque payments amount to around 5% less in terms of the value of transactions than they did ten years ago.

With growth of over 250% over the past decade, it is obvious that consumers enjoy the convenience and ease of debit and credit card use, said Sandra Quinn from APACS.

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."

Tom Smith
11th July 2007