Around half (50%) of all payments made using debit card featured contactless technology in July this year for the first time, according to data released by the banking trade body UK Finance.
According to UK Finance’s statistics, contactless debit card was used 647 million times during the month.
Contactless technology enables cardholders to pay by tapping their card, or smartphone, near the merchant’s machine, without having to enter a PIN.
The figure stood at 35% for contactless credit cards in the month of July.
In total, the UK’s credit cardholders made 314 million transactions in July 2019, up 9.1% compared to the same period last year.
According to the study, nearly 1.6 billion debit and credit card transactions were made in the UK in July 2019. This is an increase of 5.7% compared to the previous year figure.
Overall, there were 766 million contactless card transactions in July this year, a 17.8% surge from 650 million a year ago.
Additionally, the total value of contactless transactions was £7.2bn in July 2019, up 18% from £6.1bn last year.
