One in four Brits say they find the idea of contactless payments 'scary', while over a half say they would be saddened by a move to a cashless society, according to a survey by price comparison Website GoCompare.
Of the 2000 UK adults sampled by GoCompare, only six per cent have so far initiated a contactless payment with a credit card and just three percent have made such a transaction using their mobile phone.
The pollsters found more adventurous behaviour online, where non-bank alternatives such as PayPal fare much better, with 86% holding a PayPal account and 54% describing themselves as regular users.
The research also looked at how people expect to pay for things in ten years time. While cash topped the list of payment methods (60%), closely followed by debit cards (52%), only two fifths of people thought that they would be using contactless card payment systems in 2023. By comparison, only 36% expected to still be using traditional credit cards by then.
Just over a quarter of those surveyed expect to be paying for items via their mobile phone in 2023 while 19% think they will be using a type of biometric payment system.
"Are we ready to become a cashless society?" asks GoCompare's John Miles. "Our research suggests that we're not there yet. Most people think that there will always be a place for notes and coins and over half said that they will be very sad when we become a cashless society."