In 2008, transactions via credit, debit cards to hit GBP 594 billion in value in UK, up 11% Monday 27 October 2008 | 02:40 PM CET


Estimates indicate that debit and credit card spending in UK is to reach GBP 594 billion by the end of 2008, a growth by 11 percent over GBP 536 billion which was registered at the end of 2007.

The increase is attributable to consumers' tendency to use other payment methods less frequently including cash and checks. During H1 2008, transactions made via plastic cards rose by seven percent from the corresponding period of 2007.

The increase in the card payments sector is mainly due to the use of debit cards which have gained in popularity as consumers prefer to pay for small purchases by means of a card instead of cash.

In this context, the value of debit card transactions is expected to grow by 14 percent in 2008.

The use of credit cards is to drop by 1.1 percent, while during H1 2008 the value of credit card transactions declined by 0.5 percent.

Research was conducted by Datamonitor.