Card spending ''up for September''

By MoneyhighStreet Staff. Published on November 17, 2008 This post currently has no comments.

September''s £60 tax rebate could have led to an upswing in card spending, new data suggests.

According to payments association Apacs, the value of credit card and debit card purchases increased by 9.4 per cent and 12.7 per cent respectively over the month.

Potential reasons for the trend include the rebate, from which 22 million Britons benefitted, or consumers ignoring the ongoing economic downturn and increasing their spending as a consequence.

Sandra Quinn at Apacs told the BBC that she did not think the latter explanation likely, however.

The payments association found that the average credit card purchase came to around £65, with the typical debit card spend around £20 less.

Apacs also released quarterly figures, showing that there were 1.9 billion plastic card purchases made over the three months to September.

Over the same three-month period, GDP shrank by 0.5 per cent, recent government data has shown.

The UK is expected to officially enter recession, commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, at the end of the year.