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The end of cash spending has been touted many times over the years and is admittedly still a long way off at 34% of all UK spending.
But plastic is growing in popularity, be it credit cards or bank debit cards and figures from the Association of Payment Clearing Services show that retail spending in the UK last year using debit cards rose by 9% to 37%. Cash spending fell by 4% at the same time and credit card spending was unchanged.
| |
UK retail spending |
Total UK spending |
| |
2005 |
2004 |
%
change |
2005 |
2004 |
%
change |
|
Debit cards |
£89bn |
£82bn |
+9% |
£171bn |
£150bn |
+14% |
|
Credit cards |
£61bn |
£61bn |
- |
£124bn |
£123bn |
+1% |
|
Plastic card total |
£150bn
|
£143bn |
+5% |
£295bn |
£273bn |
+8% |
|
Cash spending |
£81bn |
£84bn |
-4% |
£273bn |
£272bn |
+0.5% |
|
Cheques |
£9bn |
£11bn |
-14% |
£186bn |
£209bn |
-12% |
|
Automated (direct debits, phone, online, standing order payments |
- |
- |
- |
£251bn |
£239bn |
+5% |
Sandra Quinn, director of communications at APACS said: "Debit cards have been around in the UK for almost 20 years so we now have an entire generation of shoppers who readily delve for their debit card instead of cash."
"It is clear that there are certain situations when we tend to use a credit card rather than a debit card – for bigger items and when buying online or overseas. Consumers welcome the convenience and security credit cards bring."
Cash may be dwindling in popularity in shops and stores but is still widely used elsewhere.
It is still more popular than any form of plastic when it comes to paying for things like travel tickets, entertainment and payments to plumbers, decorators and other small businesses.
Altogether cash to the value of £192 billion was spent this way in 2005, compared with just £145 billion using either debit or credit cards.
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