British shoppers are increasingly turning to plastic for household expenditure, as spending on cards soared last year.
Credit cards are making up almost two thirds of households'expenditure as they continued to ditch cash and cheques.
The combined value of all transactions made on credit, debit, charge and store cards was £436 billion in 2004, 11 per cent higher than in 2003, analysis group Datamonitor said.
Transactions on such cards made up 60 per cent of household spending, compared to 44 per cent in 2000 and just 26 per cent in 1995.
While debit cards, where money leaves the spender's account the same day, were the most popular, there was also more evidence of Britons' appetite for debt expanding further last year.
Spending on credit cards rose by 9 per cent to £118 billion in 2004 while charge card use climbed by 5 per cent.
Datamonitor said tougher competition between credit card providers had depressed the interest rates charged over the past few years to an average 16 per cent in March this year from an average of 18.6 per cent in June 1999.
Historically low interest rates have prompted Britons to fund spending sprees over recent years with piles of debt on credit cards and with borrowing against the soaring values of their homes.