Plastic spending hits €7.6bn

IRISH people are splashing out more on their credit cards with €7.6 billion spent so far this year, an increase on the €6.9bn spent in 2002.

New figures show the number of cards in issue has remained flat at 1.8 million, while the average value of each transaction has dropped from €92 to €88.

But cards are being used more, an average of 47 times per year, bringing the total number of credit transactions in Ireland to 86 million. This is up 14% on the 75 million transactions in 2002.