The UK moves ever closer to a ‘cashless
society’ as debit card usage grows at ‘break-neck’ speed and
overtakes cash for the first time.
According to figures published by the UK
Payments Council, debit cards passed this milestone over the August
Bank Holiday when the total spend reached £272bn, growing by 11%
year-on-year. This is compared to the £269bn spent using cash.
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The number of purchases made on debit cards
rose by 10% last summer compared to the same point in 2009 and an
additional 1.6m transactions were made on debit cards every day
between July and September. Withdrawals from cash machines fell by
1.5% in Q3 when compared with the same period in 2009.
“Cash is too cumbersome for many consumers
these days – they prefer a card for anything more than the smallest
transactions,” said Sandra Quinn, director of communications, UK
Payments Council.
“We now expect our debit cards to be accepted
everywhere we go – in pubs and clubs, at the corner shop, online
and on the high street. Having quickly supplanted cheques,
then claimed the scalp of credit cards, they have now usurped
cash’s throne too.”
Debit cards were used three times more
frequently than credit cards in Q3 2010. Figures showed credit card
spending remain steady throughout Q3, with a rise of 2.2% when
compared to Q3 2009. Total balance outstanding on credit cards fell
to its lowest level since 2003 – an indication, the Council says,
that shows customers to be taking repayments seriously.
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By GlobalDataCheque usage continued its downward spiral
with 104m fewer cheques being written in the last year compared to
the preceding 12 months. The Council predicts due to the rate of
this decline, both the number of cheques and the value of money
they move with almost halve by 2015.
“Cheques are very rarely used by consumers to
pay for things – they are now mainly reserved for larger
transactions, especially moving savings and investments around,
although they are still popular for giving gifts,” said Quinn.
Figures from the Council also show Faster
Payments rose 53% in value terms and 42% in volume terms, as more
banks joined the system.
