Americans are shunning their credit cards and using debit cards to avoid incurring more debt, Bloomberg reported.

Total payment volume for debit cards surpassed credit-card volume for the first time in 2009 and will continue to eclipse it in 2010, according to a report released today by Javelin Strategy & Research, a California-based market-research firm that specializes in financial services.

 At San Francisco-based Visa Inc., the world’s biggest payments network, the total payment volume for debit cards increased by 7.9 percent in 2009 to $883 billion while the company’s credit-card volume declined by 7.3 percent to $764 billion. Volume for debit cards at No. 2 MasterCard Inc. in Purchase, N.Y., rose by 5.8 percent, and 2.8 percent at No. 4 Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover Financial Services.

 “Consumers are turning from one form of plastic to another,” said James Van Dyke, president and founder of Javelin. “Credit cards are falling out of favor as cardholders become more cautious and look for more conservative payment methods.”

 Fifty-six percent of consumers said they had used a credit card in the past month, compared with 87 percent who said they had in 2007, according to the study, which surveyed 3,294 people in November 2009 for that question. Other findings were based on data collected online from 5,211 respondents in March 2010 and 5,000 consumers in November 2009. If the rate of decline continues, 45 percent of consumers will reach for a credit card during a typical month in 2010, the study said.