Spending on contactless cards has reached a record £1.5 billion in a month for the first time, according to data from the UK Cards Association.
Contactless payments totalled £1.508 billion in March, the latest data from The UK Cards Association shows. The milestone comes just four months after touch and go payments hit £1 billion, in November 2015, as consumer confidence in the technology sets in.
Richard Koch, head of policy at The UK Cards Association, says: “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. This dramatic rise shows that paying with contactless is now second nature for millions of consumers who see it as an alternative to cash."
And it's not just the younger generation who are pushing the trend, the UK's over-60s are also joining the contactless revolution, says Barclaycard, which has recorded a 116% rise among 'silver spenders' over the past 12 months.
Across the nation, there were a total of 179.6 million contactless purchases in March, with 67 made every second. On the high street, one in six card purchases are now contactless.
Overall, monthly contactless spending has more than trebled in the past year, up from £431.1 million in March 2015.