 Credit and debit cardsare expected to overtake cash this year as Britain's most popular method of payment, according to a new industry report.
It will be the first time that card payments have outstripped cash outlay for goods and services. There are 246 plastic card transactions made every second. Total plastic card use is expected to exceed ￡269bn in 2004, just a whisker ahead of the predicted ￡268bn for cash payments, said banking industry body the Association for Payment Clearing Services. The group, which represents the major banks, said credit cards had become "demonised" as one of the main causes ofballooningdebts, but added: "Without plastic, our society would virtuallygrind to a halt." Last year, the number of plastic cards in use in Britain grew by 13m, or 9%, to 160m - the equivalent of 3.5 cards per adult. Two-thirds of card transactions are now made using debit cards. Plastic accounted for ￡244bn of spending in 2003. "This year, total plastic card use, if business card usage is included, is expected to top ￡269bn. In 2005 it is expected that personal plastic card usage alone will overtake cash payments," said Apacs. In terms of numbers of transactions, cash will remain much bigger than plastic for some time to come, it added. "Cash will always remain there for low-value payments." Meanwhile, 2003 was the year thate-commerce"came of age" in the UK. More than 18 million people bought goods or services online, up 50% on 2002. Credit cards accounted for 69% of the 200m transactions, with debit cardsmopping upmost of the remainder. Last year was a landmark year for another reason - the first reduction in card fraud for eight years. Fraud losses on plastic cards fell by 5% to ￡402m as measures to combat crooks started to take effect. A new generation of cards containing computer chips is being introduced, and by the end of this year most people making face-to-face purchases will have to type their four-digitPin numberinto keypads at tills and will no longer have to sign receipts. (Agencies)
| 根據一份新的行業報告顯示，今年，信用卡和借記卡有望取代現金成為英國最流行的付款方式。 這是購買商品和支付服務費用時銀行卡付款方式首次超過現金付款方式，每秒鐘有246筆銀行卡交易。 銀行業機構付款清算服務協會說，2004年使用信用卡進行交易的總額有望超過2690億英鎊，比預計的現金支付總額2680億英鎊稍高一些。 這個代表著各主要銀行的協會說，信用卡已經成了“魔鬼”，是造成債務激增的主要原因之一，但他們也補充道：“沒有信用卡，我們的社會將會停滯不前。” 去年，使用中的英國信用卡數量增加到1.6億，增長了1300萬，增幅達9%，相當于每個成人擁有3.5張信用卡。現在，借記卡占銀行卡交易的2/3。 2003年，信用卡消費額達到2440億英鎊。付款清算服務協會說：“如果包括商業卡在內，那么今年信用卡的交易總額有望超過2690億英鎊。2005年，僅個人信用卡的交易額就有望超過現金支付。” 就交易的數量來說，在未來一段時間內，現金交易還是會遠遠多于信用卡交易。協會還補充說，“現金會繼續作為小額款項的支付方式。” 同時，2003年是英國電子商務走向成熟的一年。超過1800萬人在網上購物或接受服務，比2002年增長了50%。在2億筆交易中，使用信用卡的占69%，而剩下的部分幾乎被借記卡囊括。
去年之所以是具有里程碑意義的一年，還有另外一個原因——8年來，信用卡詐騙首次有所縮減。由于打擊信用卡詐騙的措施開始生效，信用卡詐騙的損失額降低了5%，為4.02億英鎊。 新一代內置電腦芯片的信用卡已經產生。今年年底，大部分人在進行面對面交易時，必須在收銀臺的鍵盤上輸入自己的4位密碼，再也不用簽署收據了。 credit and debit cards: 信用卡和借記卡
balloon: 激增，膨脹
grind to a halt: 慢慢停下來
e-commerce: 電子商務
came of age: 成年、成熟
mop up: 作掃尾工作、吃完
Pin number:密碼
（中國日報網站譯）
|
Updated: 2004-07-12 01:00
