Consumers used plastic to pay for a record £151 billion worth of goods and services in the first half of the year, according to the latest figures.

Research by UK payment group Apacs revealed an average £25 billion was spent on credit and debit cards each month since the start of the year.

Debit cards are the most popular method of plastic payment accounting for 70 per cent of UK purchases showing that, according to Apacs, UK consumers are being more responsible with credit.

"As a nation we are keeping tighter control over our finances; recent Bank of England figures show that we are continuing to payback a higher proportion of our credit card bills than we have historically," said Sandra Quinn from APACS.

"Our figures show that while there are certain situations when we prefer to use a credit card rather than a debit card, there is a continuing trend to pay more frequently by debit card."