Credit card spending increases with the summer sales

With the credit crisis and recession still fresh in the memory, the summer sales season in the UK has helped drive up credit card spending, it has been reported.

With spending on credit and debit cards increasing by 9.9 per cent last month, it seems that consumers are ignoring concerns over a double-dip recession and have been increasingly using their credit cards to make purchases during the sales, according to new figures provided by Barclaycard .

It was revealed that the year-on-year increase was due to shops providing a greater range of summer discounts and offers, and that July was the third month in a row that the annual growth rate in sales was over 9 per cent.

The report also found that spending last month was 1.9 per cent higher than in June, somewhat due the summer sales season starting earlier than usual.

Stuart Neal of Barclaycard said If consumer confidence is taking a hit, it's not happening on the high street . If spending remains at this level compared to last year, 2010 could prove to be a very good year for retailers.