Payment Trends Mark 'Slow Death Of Cash'

Cash is no longer the favoured method of payment in the UK with card and online transactions overtaking cash for the first time.

The latest figures show £19.8bn was spent using cards, online payments or cheques in 2014 while £18.3bn was paid in cash.

It has followed a gradual decline in cash usage. Just six years ago in 2009, £21.4bn was spent in cash compared with £15.4bn paid using other methods.

Over a period of half-an-hour at the Asda Superstore in Wytheshawe, Greater Manchester, 11 out of 18 customers at one checkout paid for their shopping using cards, while just seven paid in cash.

Shopper Fiona Ford, 21, told Sky News she prefers to pay using plastic. She said: "It feels like I'm not spending actual money which is bad I know but generally I spend on card."

Fellow customer Dennis Higgins said: "It's just easier and more convenient isn't it? If you haven't got change in your pocket you just use the card and it's there."

But shopper Ann Jones still prefers to pay for her groceries using cash. "Then I know I haven't got any bills coming in," she says.

Although there is no suggestion cash will disappear altogether, the Payments Council that represents the payments industry in the UK estimates that by 2024 less than a third of the money we spend will be in cash transactions.

CEO of Innovate Finance Lawrence Wintermeyer said the trend marked the "slow death of cash" as new innovative payment systems come into force.

He said: "There are a couple of important things behind the trend.

"First (Other OTC: FSTC - news) the rise in internet shopping and that people are using credit cards or other payment methods like Paypal to redeem things online.

"The second point is that when you are in a high street shop these days you have more opportunities to pay for things other than cash."

And it seems some people already so rarely use cash they often do not carry any at all.

Despite the number of cash machines increasing - almost one in 10 people say they now use them less than once a month.