Plastic fantastic as debit and credit cards boom

There were 170 debit and credit card transaction every second in January, new figures have revealed.

This represented an 11.7 per cent increase on January last year, with debit cards leading the way, industry body APACS said today.

Figures were boosted by the stirring response of Britons to the Asian tsunami disaster, as the public contributed an estimated £100 million to charities using their cards.

Overall, the number of debit card transactions rose 13.4 per cent on January last year, with the number of credit card transactions up 8.5 per cent.

Debit cards also accounted for two thirds of plastic card transactions, with each debit cardholder making an average of 7.8 transactions over the month. Holders of credit cards made 5.5 transactions each on average, spending £9.7 billion on their cards.

But it is the charitable donation figures that are drawing the most attention.

Over the month donations more than doubled, as distressing scenes of the Boxing Day disaster reached the UK, with in excess of 2.2 million payments made on debit and credit cards to political, social and religious organizations.

The average donation totaled £77.55 by credit card and £49.24 by debit card.

"The response from the British public to the Tsunami in South East Asia has been amazing. The disaster touched everyone in the UK and the country has responded by donating to charities in any way they can which has included donating using their plastic cards," noted Sandra Quinn, director of corporate communications at APACS.