January is usually a slow month for consumer spending but the latest Reserve Bank data on credit, debit, ATM and cheque usage indicates that January 2016 was slower than usual.According to the RBA figures, the number of purchases on credit and charge cards was down 19.7 per cent in January, compared with the previous month, falling from 228.2 million in December to 183.3 million in January.The value of those purchases fell 20.7 per cent from A$27.6 billion in December to $21.8 billion in January.The number of debit card purchases fell 13.7 per cent to 366 million over the same period and the value of those purchases fell 17.5 per cent to $19 billion.Consumers made 52.7 million cash withdrawals at ATMs in January - down 10.9 per cent compared with the previous month. The value of those withdrawals fell 15.8 per cent to $10.8 billion.The number of customer cheques drawn over the same period fell 26.7 per cent to 7.5 million and the value of those cheques 33.6 per cent to $37 billion.MWE Consulting noted in its Australian Payments Cards Report that the month-on-month decline in debit purchases was more pronounced than usual for JanuaryMWE said the average credit and charge card balances in January was $3114 - down from $3192 the previous month and $3198 a year earlier.