Monthly contactless spending in the UK has reached £1.5bn for the first time.
Recent data from the UK Cards Association revealed that £1.508bn was spent through contactless payments in March. This is mere months after the last milestone of £1bn was reached in November.
“It took almost eight years for monthly contactless spending to reach half a billion pounds – now it‘s grown by the same amount in just four months,” said Head of Policy at the UK Cards Association Richard Koch. “This dramatic rise shows that paying with contactless is now second nature for millions of consumers who see it as an alternative to cash.”
Data from Visa Europe ranked the UK as one of the top countries in Europe for contactless spending, partly largely by its use on London public transport. Barclays meanwhile found that the number of ‘silver spenders‘ over the age of 65 using contactless methods had risen 116% over the last 12 months.
Consumers have a lot to choose from with banks rushing to release their own contactless options, as well as increasingly popular services such as Apple Pay and the recently released Android Pay.
