RIP loose change: we now use cashless payments more than notes and coins ~ lotfi

We've reached a tipping point with cashless payment systems like smartphones, credit cards and direct bank transfers - new figures show they overtook cash payments for the first time in the UK during 2014.

52% of our transactions are now made without any physical money changing hands, and the trend is only going one way. You're more likely to be hunting down the back of the sofa for your smartphone than a fiver these days.

That figure is courtesy of the Payments Council and measures all payments made by consumers, businesses and financial organisations throughout the course of the year.

Cash in hand

However, when businesses are taken out of the equation, cash is still the most popular choice for consumers - 52% of our transactions in 2014 were carried out with those old-fashioned notes and coins.

The debit card (24%) was the second-most popular payment method. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why LINK is reporting a new cash machine peak of 69,382 ATMs across the country - and they're still nowhere to be found when you need one.

It's expected that the scales will tip in favour of cashless payments at the consumer level too, sometime this year or next, though it'll be many years before cash disappears from the scene completely.