The changes brought about by debit cards
June 4, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Banking
The debit card turned 20 on June 3rd and the banking industry has been looking back at how our lives have changed as a result.
Apacs, the UK payments association, has released a report called 20 Years of the Debit Card and it highlights how the cards have allowed our lives to alter in the past two decades.
Barclays was the first UK bank to provide customers with a debit card back in 1987 and 20 years on, 84 per cent of the adult population now owns one.
A total of 41 million people hold a debit card, a massive increase on the 27.8 million who had one in 1996.
The popularity of debit cards continues to grow, with Brits spending £194.9 billion on their cards in 2006, five times what we spent on them in 1996.
“It’s hard now for most of us to remember what life was like before the debit card, as it’s become one of those things we’re unlikely to leave home without,” said Jemma Smith from Apacs.
“Before 1987, most of us were totally reliant on cash or cheques, and although credit cards were used in supermarkets at that time, they only made up six per cent of transactions.
“Today, cards account for 66 per cent of supermarket spending, and most of this is on debit cards. In fact, over a third of all debit card transactions are made at the checkout,” she added.
It seems that debit cards will continue to be popular among consumers in the years to come, with spending on them expected to reach £400 billion by 2016.
