Today will be the busiest day for Christmas shopping, according to National Australia Bank’s latest analysis of its credit and debit card customers’ shopping habits.

For the past two years NAB’s card customers have made the most transactions on the Friday before Christmas.

Last year, the volume of cards transactions on the Friday before Christmas was 12 per cent more than for the same Friday in 2012. It was also 35 per cent more than the average volume of transactions for September 2013 to December 2014.

NAB Executive General Manager Consumer Lending, Angus Gilfillan, said Christmas 2014 was shaping up as yet another busy shopping period.

“In terms of transaction volume, we expect today to be the busiest day for NAB customers to spend on their cards in stores,” he said.

“From these figures, it’s fair to say many Australians are running the gauntlet and leaving their Christmas shopping to the final week.

“And, importantly, customers are taking advantage of NAB’s great range of products, services and channels, including contactless payments, to do that shopping.”

Online shoppers have already been busy this year making sure their gifts arrive by post in time for Christmas day with Monday 1 December recording the peak for online transactions.

In 2013, NAB cards customers were also busiest on the first Monday of December with the 2nd recording the highest volume of transactions, up 25 per cent on the 2012 volume.

“Traditionally we see a lot of our customers shopping online during late November and early December,” Mr Gilfillan said.

“We’ve seen that again this year with a seven per cent increase year-on-year for the busiest day for online shopping among NAB customers, which was Monday 1 December this year.”

The findings are based on analysis of the past two years, which show the Friday before Christmas as the busiest day for NAB customers transacting with their credit or debit card in store and the first Monday of December as the busiest day for them to spend online.