In the face of the financial crisis and economic downturn, more people used Visa cards in Europe in 2008 than they did in 2007. The figures from Visa Europe shows that the points of sale payments for plastic cards increased by 10.3 per cent. In general, using credit card has been increased by 7.1 per cent, while debit cards were 10.9 per cent up on the year.

Visa’s Europe chief executive Peter Ayliffe said, “The use of Visa debit cards at point of sale is up by almost 11 percent in Europe… proving that we’re actively displacing cash and cheques at tills.” He also added “When consumers are managing their money, they have recognized that debit is the safer and more convenient alternative to cash.”

However, Visa Europe’s figures also showed that 7.1 per cent more debit cards were in use in 2008 than were in use the previous year. And for the credit card, the mark was 1.5 per cent rise.