Plastic working overtime

By ELEANOR BLACK

Not only is more money spent at Christmas, but there is more of it around.

Credit cards are stretched to the limit, Eftpos transactions multiply and the Reserve Bank puts extra notes and coins into circulation.

The bank pulls between $200 million and $250 million out of the vault in mid-December, boosting the cash supply to $2.2 billion. The money makes its way back to the vault by mid-January, when banks are obliged to return it.

Darryl Roots of Electronic Transaction Services, which handles 90 per cent of all Eftpos transactions in New Zealand, said credits and debits mushroomed every Christmas.

There were 9.8 million transactions in the week ended December 9, up 4.59 per cent on last year. During the peak hour of that week, there were 57 transactions a second.

The average sum involved was $51.70, said Mr Roots.

Holidays also put pressure on credit cards.

In October, the last month for which figures are available, New Zealanders charged $1246 million of goods and services, up 19.7 per cent on last year's figure.

Last December, $1202 million of purchases were put on Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club and American Express, a 38 per cent increase on December 1999.

The Reserve Bank says the Flybuys scheme is partly responsible for the increase in credit-card purchases.