Payments processed via debit cards continued to post double-digit growth last year as more card users switched to debit cards from credit cards for bigger tax benefits, central bank data showed Tuesday.
  

Daily debit card payments averaged 312 billion won ($282 million) in 2014, increasing 18.3 percent on-year and accelerating from 13.7 percent growth in 2013, according to the data by the Bank of Korea.
  

In the same period, credit card payments reached 1.4 trillion won, growing 3.1 percent from the previous year but slowing from 3.4 percent growth in 2013.
  

The central bank attributed the sharp growth in debit card payments to bigger tax deductions and increased promotion efforts by credit card firms.
  

Starting in 2010, the government has been hiking tax deduction rates for debit card payments. The rate, which had been 20 percent in 2009, widened to 15 percent for credit cards and 30 percent for debit cards in 2013.
  

Tougher crackdowns on illegal card sales, as well as a series of data leaks at credit card firms that temporarily suspended new credit card issuances, also weighed on growth, the BOK said.
  

The annual data, however, showed that despite an overall slowdown in credit card payment growth, payments for overseas transactions continued to post sharp gains.
  

Overseas payments via credit cards jumped 13.8 percent on-year to 25 billion won as a growing number of shoppers opted to make direct purchases at foreign retailers. (Yonhap)