Debit card use was growing rapidly before the economy tanked, but the recession appears to have made them the preferred form of plastic.
Both in terms of the number of transactions and the total dollar amount spent, debit cards have overtaken credit cards for US consumers.
In dollar terms, debit cards are now used for 50.4 percent of all noncash sales, though they have a lower average dollar amount per transaction, according to research from TowerGroup, a subsidiary of MasterCard Worldwide.
Those smaller sales are key: Debit card sales dominate small purchases like those made in convenience stores, coffee shops, and gas stations.
Big-ticket items like wide-screen TVs are still more often paid for using credit cards, said Brian Riley, a TowerGroup research director and coauthor of the study.
The …
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Tags: Business, Car, Cards, cash, consumer, Credit Cards, Economy, finance, Gas, Recession
