Debit cards now the most popular payment method, pulling ahead of cash for the first

[TriWooOx]

Quote:Debit cards have overtaken cash to become the UK's most popular payment method for the first time, figures showed today.

£272 billion had been spent using them in 2010 by August 30 - compared with £269 billion with notes and coins, according to figures released by the Payments Council.

The £73.1 billion spent on debit card purchases in the third quarter was 10 per cent higher than the same period last year - and an additional 1.6 million transactions were carried out every day.

In the same period the number of cheques has also continued to plummet - with 104 million less being written out in the last 12 months.

If the trend continues the figure will have halved by 2015.

Debit cards are now being used three times more often than credit cards.

1.7 billion debit card transactions carried out during during the third quarter, compared with just 500 million on credit and charge cards.

The Payments Council said credit card spending had increased by only 5 per cent since 2005, while once inflation is taken into account it has actually declined by a 10th.

Britons are carrying 14 per cent fewer credit cards than they they were five years ago with 60.7 million in circulation.


The number of individual holders has also fallen from 31.7 million to 30 million.

Sandra Quinn, director of communications at the Payments Council, said: 'Cash is too cumbersome for many consumers these days - they prefer a card for anything more than the smallest transactions.

'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.'

The Payments Council announced in December last year that it planned to end the use of cheques by October 2018.

The Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme is being withdrawn from July next year.

The amount withdrawn in cash on plastic also fell 1.5 percent during the third quarter compared with the same period in 2009. The decline was nearly five per cent once inflation was factored in - asconsumers instead used their debit cards.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ethod.html

[fukthecensorship]

At least they are not paying an interest charge for their "spot of tea and chips" What cracks me up is the people who are paying 10 + % interest on small value items. They have the money, but still fork over the interest to the banksters instead of just carrying around a few dollars for their small everyday needs.

[FastTadpole]

Next up ... pay with your cell phones GPS, FICO Score, Insurance Records, Voice monitoring, outstanding warrants and vaccination records included!

How's that for convenience?

Now with 80% more RADIATION! How smart! So if I don't have a smart phone hooked up to a smart plan while driving in my smart car on the smart grid does pinging with smart dust that make me a great big dummy?¿

Cell Phones and Lawyers .. the downfall of society .. Babylon revisited .. fall of Rome 2.0.

[ZeroCenter]

Well, once we understand the source of credit, i.e. the people, and learn how to use it without giving it away to the banksters... and
... that involuntary servitude (coercion into a contract) is illegal by U.N. Treaty as well as most 'civilized' domestic countries,... then
... it isn't hard to figure out "the rest of the story" for someone who wants to spend a little time understanding contracts.
.... there is a 'final solution' to the banksters for usury(interest)-free, debt free currency. (Money as Debt videos pt. 1 & 2 to start)
. . . after this 'final solution', then it would be a good thing to move away from cash and use the debit card,
. . . and 'outstanding warrants' wouldn't be a thing to fear... if we learn how to be 100% responsible and take back control of how we contract.
Can start simple by not being a FUDD - the solution is easier than we might think:
http://www.whybefudd.info/
. . . When we learn the wisdom of "BB" in "hare brush" then we're ready for the "final solution" to a debt-free, interest free currency that benefits the people AND the nation (while leaving the bankster FUDDs out in the cold).