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Jul 31, 2006
Spending figures released
by APACS, the UK payments association representing card companies, indicate
that spending on plastic cards in the first six months of 2006 reached a record
£151 billion, with spending for the month of June alone reaching £26.4 billion.
APAC reported the
continued dominance of debit cards as the more popular method of plastic
payment, accounting for 70 percent of the purchases made in the UK in
the first half of 2006. Actual spending in June on debit cards reached £16.2
billion and credit card spending amounted to £10.2 billion. UK buyers have been spending much
more on their debit cards than credit cards since the beginning of 2003, APACS
noted.
A total of 543
million purchases were made on plastic in June 2006 (377 million on debit cards
and 166 million on credit cards), an increase in 4.9% percent from the previous
year. Of these purchases, two-thirds took place on the high street, with the
strongest contribution in the food and drink and household sectors.
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