Consumers are managing to meet their day-to-day living costs without having to resort to using credit cards, according to figures released yesterday.

Apacs, the UK trade association for payment service firms, said there had been no sudden spike in credit card use during the first five months of the year, with credit card spending rising by just 1.2% despite soaring food and fuel prices and higher mortgage rates.

It added that the average value of a credit card transaction in a supermarket had actually fallen slightly to £34.33, compared with £35.57 for the same period last year and said consumers are continuing to favour their debit cards for nearly all types of transaction.

The group does not collect figures regionally but said there was no reason to expect the experience in Scotland would be any different from the rest of the UK.

It said that, overall, people spent £354bn on plastic cards last year - 10% more than during 2006.

Nearly two-thirds of the total was made up by debit card transactions of £221bn while the remaining £133bn was made up by credit cards.

Debit card usage has soared by 390% during the past 10 years, growing by 13% last year to stand nearly level with total cash transactions of £265bn during 2007. By contrast, credit card usage rose by only 6% last year.

It was the seventh year running that debit card spending has outstripped payments made by credit cards, according to Apacs, which predicts that by 2010 it will also have overtaken spending by cash.

The use of standing orders and direct debits continued to rise during the year, increasing by 10% to stand at £312bn. However, the popularity of cheques continued its downward spiral, falling by 1% last year..