Payment practice change in GB

In Great Britain more consumers prefer to pay for their purchases with store cards or cash while they use credit cards for paying household bills. Rob Templeman, chief executive of Debenhams says that for the last few months there have been "a lot more cash purchases" while the number of store card transactions has also increased.

He noted that this fact is a "definite trend away from credit cards" and attributed it to consumers using credit cards to pay their "everyday bills".

Sean Gardner, chief executive of website MoneyExpert made a response to the statement saying that the trend was a sign of the "financial distress" being faced by consumers and added "You wouldn't be motivated to spend on a store card unless you had to."

He continues: "There seems to be a polarisation between people being more circumspect and spending cash while those under financial pressure are resorting to more expensive forms of credit already in their wallet."