Prepaid cards took the biggest hike of any noncash payment method in June in terms of dollar volume — barely, beating out credit by just one-tenth of a percent.

Signature and PIN debit card use rose by 2 percent and 3.3 percent respectively, while checks saw one of the smaller declines in recent months, falling 1.2 percent as compared with 5.1 percent in May.

According to the First Data SpendTrend analysis for May 31–June 30, 2014, compared to June 1–July 1, 2013, a slowly improving economy and growing job market have helped drive consumer spending.

Spending growth in June slowed slightly from May but remained positive on a year-over-year basis with a growth of 3 percent.   

Average ticket growth also decreased slightly from May but remained positive at 0.9 percent growth on a year-over-year basis.

"This month's trends showed some slowing in spending growth but overall, spending remains healthy, reflecting the recovering economy and consumer willingness to spend compared to the same time last year," said Krish Mantripragada, senior vice president of information and analytics solutions at First Data. "An increase in credit usage reflects steady growth in credit lending, improved consumer credit quality and a growing consumer confidence in their personal finances."