August 21, 2006

By Peter Kenny

A new report released shows that half of all UK consumers carry credit cards that they have not used in the previous 12 months.

The report released by Morgan Stanley credit card revealed that there are millions of credit cards sitting in our purses and wallets being unused. The worst offending credit cards seem to have been issued by the main four banks, these credit cards initially arrived with an introductory 0% offer. Once this offer ended the credit card (33%) was relegated to the back of the wallet / purse.

Interestingly, the card most likely to be at the front of a consumer’s wallet and hence be used more regularly is one that offers a cash back or reward scheme such as Morgan Stanley’s very own Platinum credit card. It was found that 70% of people with a cash back credit card said they would use this credit card more frequently with 60% of people with cards offering a reward scheme agreeing.

Other points revealed were that only 23 per cent of cardholders actually have more than one card that they use regularly. The number of cards held by men is believed to be 2.2 compared to 1.9 for women. The figures cards that have not been used in the last 12 months are the same for both men and women with each having an average of 0.9 cards unused.

It was found that quarter of British cardholders have one dominant credit card while 11 per cent have two followed by 10% who have 3 cards in their wallets.

Patrick Muir, marketing director for the Morgan Stanley Credit Card, said,  “Millions of cardholders are taking advantage of loyalty schemes for their everyday spending, with these cards least likely to be lying idle in wallets"

"There has been much speculation about the increasing use of plastic in the UK but our report shows that British cardholders are perhaps more savvy than they have been given credit for.”