Women use credit cards to buy clothes and shoes but men prefer to charge up their petrol and travel bills, The Irish Times/MRBI survey shows. There are also significant differences between what card-holders in Dublin, as opposed to those outside the capital, do with their plastic.
The survey indicates that the most popular ways to use credit are on travel and clothes. Some 42 per cent of those with cards use them to buy clothes and shoes; almost exactly as many people use credit to purchase petrol or other travel-related expenses.
In all, 31 per cent of people use their cards for groceries, 23 per cent for dining out, and 14 per cent for electrical goods. But these overall figures disguise real divergences in spending patterns.
Most women 53 per cent said they use plastic to shop for clothes and shoes. But this compares to just 31 per cent of men who said they buy what they wear on credit.
Most men 52 per cent use the card for travel-related purchases such as petrol, compared to 32 per cent of women.
And despite the rapid increase in the number of restaurants opening around the country, card-holders in Dublin are still far more likely to use their credit cards when eating out. In the capital, 31 per cent of those with cards proffer them in restaurants, compared with a mere 18 per cent outside the Dublin area.
People in Dublin are also more than twice as likely to use their credit cards to buy electrical goods; 21 per cent of respondents in the capital compared to 9 per cent outside.
Age differences are also apparent in the results. Irish people in the 18 to 34 bracket are quite likely to dine out using their credit cards; 29 per cent of those questioned said they did. But just 21 per cent in the 35 to 49 age group will use plastic in a restaurant.
Confirming differing lifestyles, the survey indicates that 36 per cent of the 35 to 49 age group uses their cards to buy groceries and food, just 21 per cent of the 18 to 34 group do.
Those aged 50 and over tend to use their credit cards less in general, except when it comes to buying electrical goods. Here, the over 50s are more likely than any other section of the population to use plastic; 19 per cent, compared to 15 per cent of those aged between 35 and 49.
Class differences also emerge from the survey, with the ABC1F1 categories professional, white-collar workers and larger farmers
generally using their credit cards more than those in the C2DEF2 categories comprising skilled and unskilled manual workers, the unemployed and small farmers.
But although 27 per cent of the higher categories use their cards in restaurants compared with 17 per cent in the C2DEF2 groupings, they have almost identical spending patterns 43 per cent against 41 per cent when it comes to shopping for clothes and shoes.
