Consumers unimpressed by ‘contactless’ payments

CONSUMERS remain wary of new “contactless” payment technology – with one in four saying they find the idea of paying without entering a pin number “scary”.

Just 6 per cent of people have so far made a payment using a contactless card, which enables customers to pay for small items priced under £20 with just a tap of their card.

There are currently around 31 million contactless cards in circulation in the UK, with around 143,000 contactless payment 
terminals, according to data from the UK Cards Association.

However, two-fifths of people said they believed they would use contactless cards by 2023, according to the report by 
Gocompare.com, while just over a quarter of those surveyed 
expect to be paying for items via their mobile phone in 2023 while 19 per cent think they will be using a type of biometric payment system.

“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,” said Gocompare.com spokesman John Miles. “But, are we ready to become a cashless society?

“Our research suggests that we’re not there yet.”

A third of people said they had not written a cheque in the last 12 months, but 60 per cent said they believed that cash would still be their prime method of payment in ten years’ time.