People may be moving towards debit rather than credit cards as they enable people to spend what they actually have.

This is the opinion of Sandra Quinn, director of communications at Apacs, who said that this is being favoured over borrowing.

"For a lot of people it’s provided a bit of a shock to concentrate on what you want to spend the money that you have, rather than money you think you might have in the future," she continued.

Those who can manage to stay in a job may find themselves financially better off at the moment, Ms Quinn suggested, with mortgage payment reductions a particular bonus.

Furthermore, people have the ability to pay off their debts, which may require them to enlist the services of a debt management agency.

In the first quarter of 2009, there were £94.2 billion-worth of purchases made on plastic cards, with cash withdrawals totalling 696 million.

In addition to this, the number of automated payments made equated to £18,455, with 60.1 Faster Payments instigated.