The average amount of credit card spending per purchase plunged to the lowest level in history last month, indicating a change in patterns of credit card usage among South Korean consumers.

South Koreans spent an average of 45,319 won ($44.80) per purchase last month, down 9.5 percent on-year, the Credit Finance Association of Korea said on Tuesday.

The decreased credit card spending was driven by a change in the way consumers use their cards ― spending less per transaction with debit cards, the CFAK explained.

The amount of spending using debit cards was recorded at 9.47 trillion last month, up 21.3 percent on-year, while credit card spending was only 38.6 trillion, up only 0.3 percent during the same period.

In 2011, South Korea topped a list of major countries for having the highest credit card usage with 129.7 transactions annually per capita.

(monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)