Plastic spending hits new record high

The UK payment association has revealed that over the course of last year a total of around £321 million was spend on plastic around the country, which represents a threefold increase since 1996.

And over the course of 2006 there was close to £126 million spent on credit cards, which amounts to £76 million more than a decade ago, according to the latest data.

Director of communications at Apacs Sandra Quinn commented: “Consumers enjoy the ease and convenience plastic cards bring, and today most retailers and supermarkets take plastic, as do an increasing number of professional service providers.

“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.”

Consumer credit lending in the UK was worth a total of £213 billion during April of this year, according to figures compiled by Credit Action.