Visa: the number of transactions made with credit cards increased last year with 67%.
We are using credit cards more often, even when the sums we have to pay are not very large, according to statistics released by Visa.
"Romanians are using Visa credit cards with more regularity for various payments and I think that this boost will raise in the following years. It is important that credit card owners to start using the card for shoppings with low value - which will mean that the electronic payments are starting to be a regular alternative for cash payments", said Catalin Cretu, general director for Romania of Visa Europe.
10 billions euro spent with the card The total value of transactions made with Visa credit cards released in Romania raised at the end of last year up to 10.3 billions euro. The number of the transactions made with Visa cards increased last year with 67%.
The value of the transactions made with traders increased even more, with over 73%, compared to 2006, showing that more and more Romanians are using their credit cards more often. Debt cards use with traders also increased - the value of the payments raised with 84%. This advance shows that Romanians are not cashing their wages on payment day.
The average sum spent with this type of card dropped slightly, with 0.7%, fact that shows that payments are more often and have lower values compared to the previous years.
The European market
In Europe are over 350.000 cards released by Visa. These cards were used for payments and cash withdrawals of 1.3000 billions euro. 11.45% of the European expenses were made with Visa credit cards.
At the end of last year, under the MasterCard logo were present 178 millions cards. More than 298 millions Maestro cards, owned by MasterCard, were present in Europe.