Finished your Christmas shopping? Gift-hunters are expected to blow more than £1 BILLION today in 'Meltdown Friday' Experts say we will spend £400m on credit cards and £470m on debit cards Thought to be the busiest shopping day of the year with £1.3bn in total But beware your spending limits - as it also happens to be Friday the 13th About £870million will be spent on credit and debit cards and another £500million in cash today - which retail experts are describing as "Meltdown Friday." At least £400 million will go on credit cards as people take on debt to ensure children and loved ones have a good time. Friday the 13th will be a bad day in terms of credit card balances with an estimated 9.4 million credit card purchases with an average of value of £42. Flexible friend: Experts say £1.3 billion will be spent today, including almost £1 billion on credit and debit cards Spending on debit cards is predicted to hit £470 million with almost 14 million purchases at an average value of £34. Once cash, cheques and other electronic payments are added into the mix, total spending today is expected to hit £1.3 billion, while the figure is likely to be even higher on Saturday. Hey big spender: Today is expected to be the busiest shopping day of the year (file photo) A number of high street retailers including House of Fraser, Gap, Laura Ashley, H&M and Hobbs are selling items at up to half price. A study by the Centre for Retail Research and the website TotallyMoney.com suggests today will be the busiest day of the year so far for card spending. Sales are expected to peak at 11.10am. Spending in the one hour around the peak is expected to reach £224 million - £3.73 million a minute - when the figure for the high street and internet is combined. More than a quarter - 26 per cent - of all plastic transactions will be carried out online, totalling £342 million, which would be up by 50 per cent on the equivalent day in 2012. A study published earlier this week by communications watchdog, Ofcom, said the British are the biggest web shoppers in the world with average annual spending per head of £1,175 per head. The figure is way ahead of the rest of the world, including the U.S., and some £307 more than in the second ranked country, Australia. Total retail spending in December is expected to hit £36 billion, which would be four per cent higher than last year. More than £9 billion of this will be on credit cards as people allow their card balances to rise over the festive period.