Debit card use rises ten percent

The number of debit card payments in the Netherlands increased by nearly 10 percent last year. The number of payments made with iDeal increased with more than a quarter. This is according to Payments Association Netherlands. In total, debit cards were used 2,913 billion times last year. The strongest increase was in retail payments of between 0 and 10 euros. Such payments were made more than 1 billion times. There were 180.2 million transactions with iDeal last year, an increase of 26.4 percent compared to 2013. The increasing use of smartphones and tablets is a major contribution to this growth, according to the Payments Association. 8.3 million purchases were made with contactless pins, which were introduced last year. There are currently more than 8 million contactless payment cards in circulation.