Card payments overtake cash as pensioners go contactless

CARD payments have overtaken cash transactions for the first time, industry figures show, as pensioners become swept up in the contactless revolution.

The number of over-65s embracing tap-and-go technology has soared, boosting card transactions to become Britain’s primary payment choice.

Appearing to shrug off concerns over the security of Pin-free transactions, more than half of older shoppers now use contactless regularly, trade association statistics reveal. Debit card payments totalling £13.2 billion eclipsed the £13.1 billion payments made in cash in the UK last year, with supermarkets being the most popular place to use contactless technology.

Cash is now the second most common form of payment and is predicted to make up just 36per cent of transactions in 10 years’ time.

Between 2016 and 2017, contactless payments increased by 97per cent.

The report, published by UK Finance, shows that for the first time more than half of over-65s use contactless cards, compared with two thirds of UK consumers at large. Mervyn Kohler, a spokesman for Age UK, told The Daily Telegraph: “I think we’re looking at an older population which is deeply polarised between those that embrace new technologies and those that wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.

“There are an awful lot of old people who would be petrified at the thought of a contactless card clocking up bills that they can’t actually remember.

“On the other hand, you don’t need to worry about remembering a PIN, you don’t need to get your specs out to be able to see a keypad and manipulate your way around the keypad when your fingers are nasty and arthritic.”

On Friday, Transport for London announced that more than half of “pay as you go” journeys were now made with contactless cards or mobile devices.

Adrian Buckle, the head of research at UK Finance, said that London Underground barriers had “provided a safe and familiar environment” for “tapping a card and walking through”.

He added: “When they’re at the till, it gives them a bit of extra confidence because they know what they’re doing and they know it’s going to work.”