UK Automated Payments Reach All-time High, Reports Bacs
Bacs Payment Schemes (Bacs), the company responsible for direct debit in the UK, has reached a milestone of 90 billion debits and credits processed through the system since its inception in 1968. On top of that, 2011 saw a record shattered that had been set before the onset of the recession, with the number of transactions in a single day reaching a peak of 91.9 million – that’s an increase of more than 1.5 million over the 2007 record of 90.3 million.
In 2011 alone, more than 5.6 billion UK payments were sent through the Bacs system with a value of over £4.3 trillion. Despite the challenging economic backdrop, direct debit usage continued to grow, increasing by 3% over 2011 to reach 3.25 billion direct debits processed in 2011. Bacs Direct Credit volumes also rose, with growth of 1.5% in 2011 – that makes a total of 2.224 billion credits throughout the year.
Bacs’ managing director Michael Chambers said: “Direct debit and Bacs Direct Credit may have been introduced more than 40 years ago but demand for these reliable and secure payment methods continues to grow among both end consumers and businesses. For businesses, we provide substantial cost efficiencies over other payment methods, which are particularly important in the challenging economic circumstances. And their customers can benefit from the peace of mind of knowing bill payments will be made automatically, as well as the protection provided by the money-back Direct Debit Guarantee.”