Credit card use continues to increase, but more slowly

Once again, Dutch consumers used their credit cards more often to pay for goods and services in the first nine months of 2007. The total amount paid through credit card payments in this period was 2.8 billion euro. This is 2 percent more than in the first three quarters of 2006. This increase is relatively small compared with previous years: Dutch credit card spending more than tripled between 1998 and 2006.

The increase in credit card use in the Netherlands can also be seen from the number of credit cards in use. In the first half of 2007 an average 2.7 million credit cards were used,  compared with 1.5 million in 1998. If there is outstanding credit on the credit card, this indicates that it is actually used. In the first three quarters of 2007 this was the case for 32 percent of credit cards in the Netherlands. In the first nine months of 1998 this was the case for only 10 percent.

Credit card payments, first six months