Plastic spending will top cash

BRITISH shoppers will pay for more purchases with plastic rather than cash for the first time this year.

The total charged to credit and debit cards will reach £269bn - £1bn more than will be handed over in cash, according to the Association of Payment Clearing Services, a banking trade body.

'Without plastic our society would virtually grind to a halt,' said an association spokesman.

Some 17.6m people in the UK are paying back loans for for everything from new cars to loft extensions or simply borrowing to 'consolidate' other debts into one manageable sum. And up to a million have a personal loan of more than £20,000, said financial research group Consumer Intelligence.

Collectively, it means people owe £145bn in secured and unsecured loans on top of whatever they have left on mortgages, credit cards and overdrafts.