Debit cards bound to overtake cash as payment method by 2021

Card use is currently being increased by Apple Pay and Android Pay, according to Payments UK, belfasttelegraph.co.uk reports. In 2014, the volume of non-cash payments overtook total cash payments at 52% against 48%. Nevertheless, cash has remained the most popular payment method in the UK, 45.1% of payments in 2015 being made in cash. However, industry experts predict that, by 2025, notes and coins will be used for just 27% of payments, while credit, debit and charge cards will account for 50.2% of all payments made. In 2021, it is predicted that 14.5 billion debit card payments will be made, overtaking the 13 billion cash payments.

The average UK adult made 20 card payments per month in 2015, with around two payments per month being contactless. By 2025 people are predicted to use a debit, credit or charge card virtually every day – at 30 times per month. Nearly half of these transactions – 14 per month – will be contactless and many will be made by using a mobile phone. Contactless card spending topped GBP 1.5 billion in the space of a month for the first time in March 2016.

Contactless spending reached GBP 1 billion in November 2015. In September 2015, the limit for a single payment that could be made using contactless was increased by GBP 10 to GBP 30. Recent research from Barclaycard has also found that the number of people aged over 60 using contactless payments has increased by 116% in 2015-2016. Nine out of 10 UK adults already have a debit card, and six in 10 have a credit card.

Despite the declining popularity of cheques in recent years, it is still expected to be made 237 million cheque payments in 2025, compared to 546 million in 2015. The number of payments made on average by UK consumers each month in 2015, followed by the number expected per month in 2025, according to Payments UK, is as follows: cash, 27, 17; debit card, 16, 25; direct debit, 6, 6; credit/charge card, 4, 5; contactless, 2, 14; faster payments (includes remote banking) 1, 2; standing order, 0.7, 0.7; cheque, 0.5, 0.2.