15 March 2007
The UK payments association Apacs has revealed that despite Britain's ongoing love affair with consumer credit, 63% of all money transactions are made using cash, rather than a credit or debit card.
Yesterday, given a new look with the face of Scottish economist Alan Smith emblazoned on it, the £20 note was declared to be the most popular form of cash payment, with the denomination accounting for 66% of all notes dispensed in the UK.
However, consumers' passion for plastic could soon be on the rise again with the introduction of contactless payment cards, due to be introduced in the UK later this year.
Contactless cards will work much in the same way as London's Oyster cards - simply pressed against a reader with no need for PIN numbers or signatures.
The majority of the contactless cards will have an upper limit attached to them, £10 for example, to ensure that money cannot be obtained from the credit cards fraudulently.
Apacs' Director of Communications, Sandra Quinn, said that the new technology could see the way in which consumers pay for low-value goods change as the ease of use could convince consumers to carry the card rather than bundles of coins.
"Pre-paid cards are also starting to take off and they are likely to become more widely used for small value transactions," she added.