News

Plastic overtakes cash in UK

January 4, 2005

The Scotsman: Spending on credit and debit cards has overtaken cash spending for the first time in the UK.

British shoppers are expected to have spent £269 billion (U.S. $516.4 billion) using plastic during 2004, compared with £268 billion (U.S. $514.6 billion) in cash payments, according to the Association for Payment Clearing Services.

Experts think that the shift toward plastic has been driven by the convenience and security of card transactions. Nine in ten people own at least one credit or debit card.

The news comes as Halifax prepares to launch an account in February that pays customers cashback of 1 percent of spending on debit cards.

There are more than 130 million plastic cards in use in the UK -- with debit cards accounting for 65 percent of card spending. The first debit card went into operation in 1987.

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