CONSUMERS are managing to meet day-to-day living costs without having to resort to using credit cards, a payments body has said.

Apacs said there had been no sudden surge in credit card use during the first five months of the year. Spending on cards rose just 1.2% despite soaring food and fuel prices and higher mortgage rates.

Apacs added that the average value of a credit card transaction in a supermarket had actually fallen slightly to £34.33, compared with £35.57 for the same period of 2007. Instead, consumers are continuing to favour their debit cards for nearly all types of transaction.
Overall, people spent £354billion on plastic during 2007 – 10% more than the previous year. Nearly two-thirds of the total was made up by debit card transactions, with these totalling £221billion, while the remaining £133billion was made up by credit cards.

Sandra Quinn, of Apacs, said: "Over the past three years, debit cards have increasingly become consumers' first choice over other options such as cash, cheques and credit cards."

Last week, consumers were warned not to accept offers from credit card firms that are offering instant cash, because this is a ploy to get them to withdraw cash on their credit card, which in turn will generate increased profits for the credit card firms.