Debit card transactions rose by 10 per cent last year, according to Visa Europe, which is owned by the banks for which it processes payments.

It means that 77 per cent of its business was now done with debit cards, rather than credit cards, the use of which stalled over the past year.

Total card spending at “points of sale” was up 3.7 per cent to £746 billion, Visa Europe said. The busiest day for spending was December 23, when consumers performed more than 20 million transactions and spent more than £1 billion – up 28 per cent on the same day in 2008.

The recession has meant that consumers are increasingly using debit cards to pay for purchases, rather than build up debt on credit cards, Visa said.

At the same time consumers have been reluctant to pay booking fees for payment with a credit card. Retailers are barred from making such charges on debit card transactions, but justify the credit card levies on the grounds that they are passing on so-called interchange fees charged by banks.

Internet shopping has also accelerated the rise of debit card use, with a quarter of all Visa spending in the UK conducted online over the Christmas period and 20 per cent for the year as a whole.