Banking: Cash and cheque use continues to fall
Analysis of data from active Halifax personal current account customers shows that cashless payment methods have increased to account for 84% of all current account transactions.
Meanwhile, cheque and cash payments continue to fall – cash withdrawals have declined 8.3% and now make up just 16.6% of activity while cheque-based transactions dropped 20% last year and now account for just 1.2% of transactions.
Furthermore, the amount being spent in cash and cheque transactions is dropping. Of every £100 spent, just £18.33 is cash withdrawals (16.6%), down £1.82 since 2013 and while cheques account for 1 in every 100 transactions they account for just £8.14 in every £100 spent.
“Consumers now have much more choice regarding payment methods and have adjusted their spending habits accordingly,” says Nick Young, head of Halifax Current Accounts. “As the number of ways to pay on debit card continues to increase, we are likely to continue to see a corresponding decline in the use of cash.”
Debit card transactions now account for 56.7% of all Halifax current account transactions, up from 54.9% in 2013. Meanwhile, Faster Payments usage, while still low, is growing fast, up from 2.3% to 2.7%.