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Shoppers cut up credit cards as they pay off £1.5 trillion debt
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Business Editor09.11.09
Record numbers of shoppers are cutting up their credit cards to help rein in their spending, a survey revealed today.
The number of cards in circulation has fallen by eight per cent to levels not seen since 2003, according to auditor PricewaterhouseCooper.
Consumers are taking out fewer credit cards as they start to pay off the £1.5trillion of personal debt built up during the boom years. At the same time, issuers are refusing more credit card applications.
Figures from the UK Cards Association show spending on debit cards jumped by nine per cent last year, but spending on credit cards, which have high interest rates, dived by 27 per cent.
Credit card repayments have outstripped new spending every month since early 2006, according to the British Bankers' Association.
■ The amount of money taken out of Link cash machines broke the £10billion mark for the first time in a single month in October - a 4.4 per cent rise on last year.
