PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Americans put over $2.2 trillion ontheir major credit cards for purchases and cash advances, accordingto CardTrak.com, a Web site which tracks card trends.

CardTrak said that this means 2007 was the second consecutiveyear that purchases on credit cards have topped $2 trillion, whichis of even greater note given that in 1997 American's spent arelatively paltry $889 billion on their major credit cards,according to the firm's data.

CardTrak didn't attribute the credit card spending to anyspecific cause but noted that the growth of purchases on credit isstill outpaced, on a percentage basis, by the growth in spendingwith debit cards. CardTrak suggested the debit spending was likelythe result of the steadily increasing acceptance of cards as apayment vehicle by both U.S. consumers and companies.