A quarter of 18-24 year olds predict that mobile payments will eventually become the main payment method in the UK, rendering cash and plastic cards obsolete, according to a new study.

The survey from MoneySuperMarket found that contactless payments have doubled since last year, while three quarters of respondents are withdrawing less cash today than they were 12 months ago. The survey also revealed that Brits make 20 per cent more payments with card or contactless devices (1.8 times) than with cash (1.5 times) each day.

A quarter of Generation Z (those aged 18-24) expect mobile payments to overtake other payment methods, four times more than the over 55s (6 per cent). Younger people are also more likely to lose count of how many contactless payments they make, with 15 per cent of 18-24 year olds admitting they can lose track of contactless spending, compared to just two per cent of the over 55s.

However, just over a quarter of respondents said they would disapprove of a move towards a cashless society, citing the preference to use cash “on occasion”. Even for those who approve of the move, a small proportion (17 per cent) admitted they would also miss paper notes.

Only six per cent of those surveyed claimed to have withdrawn cash to counter their concerns around card security, compared to 38 per cent of Brits who reported withdrawing cash for no specific purpose other than to have it on them to pay for small ticket items. The latter response could perhaps be attributed to age; over half of the over 55s regularly withdraw cash, in contrast to less than a quarter of 25-34 year olds.

Share Story: