IRISH PEOPLE SPENT over €28 billion on Visa debit and credit cards in the 12 months up to September 2014.

That figure, which also includes prepaid cards, is an increase of 32% on the previous year.

As a result €1 in every €3 of Irish consumer spending is now on a Visa card.

The total number of transactions on Irish Visa cards increased by approximately 39% over the twelve month period to 503 million. The average transaction value was €56.40, a 4.95% decrease, with customers using cards for smaller everyday items.

Contactless payments continues to grow in Ireland, with the ten millionth transaction milestone reached in December 2014.

The average Irish purchase value made with a Visa Debit contactless card over the last year was €8.09.

E-commerce spending with Irish Visa cards over the twelve month period rose to almost €5.6 billion, a 30% increase on the corresponding period.

As a result, approximately 20% of spending with Visa cards is done online. The data also shows that Irish Visa cardholders spend €3,867,044 online every minute on an average day.

Read: More households borrowing money to pay “increasingly unaffordable” energy bills

Read: Credit Union debit cards to be rolled out by January 2015

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