Cash spending overtaken by credit cards for the first time

Cash spending overtaken by credit cards for the first time

Credit card spending has taken over cash for the first time, according to data from UK retailers, demoting notes and coins to the third most popular method of payment.

The figures come from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) – whose members are responsible for £180bn worth of sales with the arrival of warnings that millions of adults would struggle to cope in a cashless society.

In its latest payments survey, the BRC said debit cards remained to be the most popular payment method and that they overtook cash in 2018 with total plastic spending accounting for almost 80% of retail sales.

Total UK retail sales rose by 4% to £381bn in 2018, with debit card payments representing almost 57%. Meanwhile, credit and charge cards accounted for 21.5% of the total, a percentage that has remained constant over the past few years.