Cash no longer king as card use soars

We are using our cards more than ever to pay for goods at tills around the country.

Debit card point of sale (PoS) transactions in December were €3.6bn — a 15% increase on the same month in 2016.

According to figures from the Central Bank, debit card PoS transactions accounted for 57% of gross new transactions on all cards in December.

Retail, services and social debit card expenditure all recorded double-digit increases, over the year to December 2017. Credit card spending was largely similar to the same period in 2016, experiencing a minor increase of €19m.

Total e-commerce expenditure was €1.34bn in December, with €949m and €389m attributable to debit cards and credit cards respectively. The total expenditure on e-commerce in December value was 15% higher than the previous year.

E-commerce accounted for 21% of new transactions on all cards during the month. It now forms 26% of debit card spending and 40% of credit card purchases.

Debit card PoS has spending had grown to over three times the value of credit card spending in December.

There were increases across all categories of spending, but social and services spending had the highest increases over the year - both at 17%.

Within services, debit card payments for professional services have increased by 21% since December 2016, while a similar trend is evident for restaurants/dining, which recorded a 20% rise.

Credit cards also experienced increases in total spending.

The total expenditure in social, retail and services grew by 2%, 1% and 3% respectively. Professional services experienced the largest growth of any category, increasing by 8%. In contrast, spending on entertainment (1%), health (2%) and clothing (2%) experienced minor decreases.

Just under 75% of all credit card expenditure in December 2017 was split between the retail (47%) and services (26%) sectors. In comparison, retail was predominant for debit cards, accounting for 56% of new spending and triple the expenditure on services.

“A significant seasonal effect can be seen in the data, particularly for debit cards, with higher expenditures outside Ireland recorded in the summer months compared to the winter months. Debit card expenditure abroad during 2017 amounted to €4.4bn — an increase of 17% on the 2016 figure,” said the Central Bank.