Evidence that credit card users are beginning to repay their debts keeps growing, with new figures from Apacs showing that the amount spent on credit cards fell in the first half of this year.

A total of £58.4bn was spent, compared to £60.6bn in the equivalent period of 2005.

Debit cards however continued their inexorable rise in popularity, with spending growing from £88.8bn to £92.5bn, which Apacs said suggested consumers were taking ‘tighter control’ of their finances.

Halifax have relaunched their popular One credit card with a new low APR of 9.9%, plus 0% on purchases and balance transfers for a full nine months.

The downside is the upping of the balance transfer fee to 3%, one of the largest yet seen.

Supermarket giant Tesco have expanded their finance operations into the small business sector, with the launch of a new credit card aimed specifically at sole traders.

The card, imaginatively called the Tesco Business Card, has an interest free period of up to 8 weeks, a middling interest rate of 13.9% and an annual fee of £25.

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