Consumers continued credit card spending in July

The amount of money spent on consumers' credit cards and the number of times they were used both increased considerably on a year-over-year basis during the month of July, but the rates at which they expanded slowed overall, according to the latest monthly statistics from First Data Corp.'s SpendTrend report. The amount spent increased 7.3 percent during July, but was lower than the 8.8 percent observed in June. Further, the number of transactions on these accounts during the month rose just 5.3 percent.

Both types of debit transactions – signature and PIN – also increased, the report said. Overall, the number of transactions on signature cards rose 7.8 percent, while those on PIN cards climbed 5.1 percent. In addition, the amount spent on these accounts jumped 7 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively.

Consumers are likely putting more of their purchases on credit cards once again because of the rising prices for necessities such as food and gasoline, making it more difficult to get out of debt.