Over recent years the popularity of plastic payment cards has rocketed amongst Brits, and according to the results of a recent survey both credit and debit cards are not considerably more popular than cold, hard cash in Britain. The age of the plastic payment card is certainly upon us according to the recent figures, which show that collectively the popularity of plastic payment cards by far outweighs the popularity of cash.
Many people use credit cards because of the ease, convenience, and the security of not having to carry around any cash, and the survey revealed that a huge number of people these days barely carry any cash on them. Around a third of consumers carry only £10.00 or less in cash, and the results also showed that nearly half of consumers in Britain only withdraw cash once a week or less often.
The survey showed that around 37% of consumers use their debit cards for spending, whilst a further 32% use their 0% credit cards. In the meantime cash only accounted for 29% of spending according to the results. However, one industry official stated that whilst spending on plastic can be very convenient and easy consumers need to make sure that they keep track of their spending on plastic, as otherwise it can get all too easy to lose track of what has been spent on the card. Surprisingly the use of 0% balance transfer credit cards has tailed off slightly.
The results of the survey went on to show that older people tend to carry more cash, with those aged over fifty carrying around three times as much money as those aged between 18-24. Men also tend to carry more money on them than women do, with the typical man carrying around £20 more than a woman.
