Consumers moving away from credit

Use of credit cards has fallen in recent months

UK consumers have turned away slightly from credit card spending during the recession, according to the payments association Apacs.

Spending on credit cards fell by 3% in the first three months of the year, compared with the same period last year, the group said.

However, increased use of debit cards meant spending on plastic cards was up 5.4% over the same period to £94.2bn.

The number of purchases made on cards was also up, by 6.5%.

Moving in the opposite direction was the use of cheques.

In the first quarter of the year, the number of cheques used fell by 10.6% and the total value of cheques dropped by 9.4%, compared with the same three months a year earlier.