Quarterly statistical release - Q2 2009

The latest payment statistical release covering the second quarter of 2009 has been released today.

Click here to download the Q2 Statistical Release

It has been re-designed to make it even easier for you to access all the payments data over the last three months on plastic cards, credit card repayments, cash machine withdrawals, cheques, Faster Payments, CHAPS payments, Direct Debits and Bacs Direct Credits.

We hope you like the new format, please feel free to let us know either way.

Highlights from the second quarter of 2009 include:

• In the second quarter of 2009 cheque and credit clearing volumes were 13.7% lower and values a staggering 20.9% lower compared with the corresponding period in 2008. These figures show the rapid decline in use and record the most marked decline so far.
• Plastic card spending was up 3.0% from this time last year, reaching a total of £95.5 billion. The number of purchases made was also up by 6.9% over the same time period.
• Spending on credit cards was in negative growth, in terms of both the number of purchases and the amount spent, down -0.1% and -1.0% respectively.  This is the first time in two years that credit card spending has fallen to this level and matches all the recent data published by the Bank of England.
• Debit cards accounted for 74.7% of all plastic card purchases in 2009 Q2 – up 1.4% from 2008 Q1.    
• Ratio of credit card repayments was 1.2% higher this quarter when compared to the corresponding period of 2008.  Credit card repayments have stayed consistently higher than the historical average over the last three years as people proportionately spend less and pay back more on their credit cards.
• The average value of a cash withdrawal this quarter was £65
• The Faster Payments Service, launched in May 2008, processed 69.3 million payments to a value of £25.1 billion in the second quarter of 2009. By the end of Q2 2009 almost half of all standing orders and 70% of phone and online banking payments were made using the Faster Payments Service.

If you have a specific statistical query or, would like to receive regular updates do get in touch with the press office on 020 7711 6316.  Alternatively, you can e-mail press@ukpayments.org.uk.