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Brits still wary of contactless payments

25th April 2013 Print

Large numbers of Brits remain wary of new payment technologies, with one in four saying they find the idea of contactless payments scary, according to research from Gocompare.com.

According to the survey of over 2,000 UK adults; only 6% of Brits have so far made a contactless payment with a credit card and just 3% have made such a transaction using their mobile phone.
 
However, the research also looked at how people expect to pay for things in ten years time.  While cash topped the list of payment methods (60%), closely followed by debit cards (52%), nearly two fifths of people thought that they would be using contactless card payment systems in 2023.  By comparison, only 36% expected to still be using traditional credit cards by then. 
 
Just over a quarter of those surveyed expect to be paying for items via their mobile phone in 2023 while 19% think they will be using a type of biometric payment system.
 
John Miles from Gocompare.com commented: "Our relationship with money; the way we're paid and the way in which we pay for goods and services; has changed dramatically over the last few decades.  For most of us, our income is paid directly into the bank, household bills are paid by direct debit or standing order and our wallets contain a range of plastic credit and debit cards, rather than cash.  And our survey revealed that cheque usage has reduced, with a third of people not having written a cheque in the last 12 months.
 
"The rapid growth of the internet and online shopping has also transformed payment systems with the development services such as PayPal.  In fact, 86% of people we surveyed said they hold a PayPal account, and of these 54% are regular users.  But, are we ready to become a cashless society?"
 
John Miles continued: "Our research suggests that we're not there yet.  Most people think that there will always be a place for notes and coins and over half said that they will be very sad when we become a cashless society.
 
"While many of us have adopted and are regular users of some of the new digital money systems, a significant proportion of people remain wary of these new technologies."