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UK 'credit card capital', cheques out of favour
15 February 2008
The UK's love affair with the plastic has been confirmed by new figures showing that British shoppers are more likely to use credit or debit cards as cheques fall out of favour among retailers.
Research released by Datamonitor shows that the average Briton has 2.8 payment cards, including 1.4 credit cards while writing cheques fell by 9.3 per cent in 2007.
Retailers are becoming more reticent to accept cheques following the lead of major supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury's, which stopped accepting cheques.
Andrew Fabricius, Datamonitor financial services analyst, said that Britons take a more relaxed attitude to credit cards than their European counterparts.
"[Britons] are increasingly using credit cards as borrowing tools, applying for new credit cards to transfer an outstanding balance and take advantage of interest free offers. In most other countries, consumers do not view credit cards as a borrowing tool," he said.
Current credit card debt in the UK is nearly £55 billion. 
