NEW YORK - Americans are saving less, while spending more, latest reports show and credit, debit and business cards increasingly the most common forms of payment being used by consumers. Consumers increased their spending 1% in February, the Commerce Department said, a pace representing more than double their income growth. Personal income, including wages, interest and government benefits, increased by only 0.4%. The rate of personal savings fell to 0.8% in February, a record monthly low. While the rate of savings is at an all time low, credit, debit and business card use is at an all-time high. According to a Visa International payments panel study, 26 cents of every $1 in U.S. discretionary consumer spending is on plastic. About half of that is on Visa cards. Visa says it processed 40 billion transactions in 1999, the equivalent of about 1,268 transactions per second. These transactions were in traditional categories such as consumer goods, to non-traditional areas such as movie theaters and fast-food restaurants. In addition, about 2% of Visa's 1999 volume was from transactions over the Internet. -
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