Spend on plastic up but rate slows

Consumers spent a record £32.2 billion on credit and debit cards during December – but the rate at which spending is rising continued to slow. Total plastic spend during the month rose by just four per cent, the slowest annual increase for four years, payments body Apacs said.

The increase was driven by a 6.8 per cent jump in debit card spend which is less than half the rise in 2005-2006.