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Credit card transactions declining: VisaThe latest figures from Visa - the largest payment network worldwide - suggest the answer is yes. Reuters reports that the payment volume for customers using credit cards fell last month, as consumers sought to keep spending under control. U.S. credit volume fell by 10 percent in August, Visa said, following a 9 percent decline in July. But this decrease doesn't mean that people have given up plastic of all kinds - in fact, while credit card spending fell, debit card spending rose by 7 percent, according to Visa's figures. Robert Dodd, an analyst at Keegan & Co., said the findings show people are steering away from a buy-now-pay-later mentality to stay in control of their finances. "Instead of putting on credit, people just used the debit card instead. Consumers are more focused on controlling how much they have," he said. Total payment volume at Visa decreased by 1 percent during August, the company said. These latest figures highlight a longer trend of consumers shifting credit card spending to debit cards. The Nilson Report shows that in 2008, Americans made 28.4 billion debt card purchases, compared with 21 billion credit card purchases, according to USA Today. Last year was the first time the use of debit cards exceeded that of credit cards, the article states. "Consumers are definitely paying down credit card debt and not replacing it with new debt, and that's not unhealthy," consumer credit expert John Ulzheimer told the Associated Press recently. "People should be paying for things in ways that they can afford."
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