As the limit on contacless payments in the UK rises to £30 per transaction, so too has spending on contactless cards, according to data published by The UK Cards Association, which suggests that contactless transactions have more than trebled over the last year to reach a record £2.32 billion in 2014.
The new figures reveal a year of major growth in contactless usage, with the total spend in
UK contactless transactions pass £2billion
2014 more than double that of all the previous six years combined. Year-on-year, annual spending rose by 255% from £653.4 million in 2013.
UK consumers used their contactless cards 319.2 million times last year, with 10 contactless transactionstaking place every second. The total number of contactless transactions jumped from 100.4 million in 2013.
Consumers can use a contactless card to pay for purchases up to £30 simply by touching their card against the contactless reader in shops, bars and restaurants, and also for travel in some areas.
“Contactless has now firmly stepped into the mainstream. With usage soaring every month last year, we’ve seen people flocking to contactless payments as they switch away from cash,” comments Richard Koch, Head of Policy at The UK Cards Association. “For retailers, contactless means quicker queues at the tills and greater convenience for their customers.”
The annual contactless figures for 2014 also show that:
- There are 58.0 million contactless cards in circulation in the UK, a 52.2% rise compared to December 2013. This is split between 36.9 million debit cards and 21.2 million credit or charge cards.
- The average contactless transaction is now for £8.26, as at December 2014.
Overall, debit and credit cards now make up a 75.8% share of total retail sales, up from 51.6% in 2004.2
In September 2014, Transport for London launched contactless payments across the transport network in the capital. Since the launch, 41 million journeys have been made so far using contactless, with around 415,000 journeys now made every day.
“It is fantastic to see the popularity of contactless continuing to grow across the UK. We have seen over 41 million journeys made across London using contactless within just five months,” says Shashi Verma, TfL’s Director of Customer Experience.
“Using contactless payments to travel can save our customers time, they don’t need to stop to top-up an Oyster card, or buy a ticket and can benefit from daily and Monday to Sunday capping.”
Instances of fraud on contactless cards are extremely rare, with the latest figures showing that contactlessfraud totalled £51,000 over the first six months of 2014 – just 0.007% of contactless card spending. However, if a card is lost or stolen, consumers are protected against fraud loss – they will not be liable for any fraudulent use and should report it to their card issuer as soon as possible.
The post UK contactless usage surges appeared first on Payments Cards & Mobile.
