CONSUMERS are increasingly shunning credit cards and using debit cards instead to pay for purchases as they err on the side of financial responsibility due to the economic slowdown, MasterCard Australia says.

The credit card company's executive vice-president for Australasia, Eddie Grobler, said after an address at the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia on Wednesday that the company was noticing a change in the way consumers chose to pay for items. Unlike a credit card, where the user goes into debt after a purchase, debit cards can operate only if there are sufficient funds in the card account to finance a purchase.

"There is a slowdown in credit card usage but we've also witnessed an increase in usage of our debit card products," Mr Grobler said.

Editor's Note:  HomeATM processes credit cards as "card present" transactions and debit cards as "card present" PIN based transactions, so regardless of what the consumer wants to use, we can provide eTailers with lower interchange rates via our PCI 2.0 Certified SafeTPIN device.  Card Present Transactions in a Card Not Present World!

"It seems to me the consumer is more comfortable to access [their] own funds now."

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