People in the UK prefer to pay for goods using chip-and-pin cards rather than contactless methods, according to new research.
Consumer and business insights experts Equifax found that 42 per cent of people selected using a debit or credit card with a pin number as their preferred method of payment ahead of contactless (34 per cent).
The survey, conducted with Gorkana, also found that two-thirds of consumers are happy with the current 拢30 contactless payment limit and only 16 per cent think it should be increased.
Of the people keen to see a higher limit, 13 per cent would like to see it increased by a maximum of 拢10, and 39 per cent would like the limit to be set between 拢40 and 拢50.
Only 16 per cent of people feel that contactless payments are more secure than carrying cash.
Despite the rising popularity of using wearable technology like watches to make payments, 36 per cent of Brits don鈥檛 expect this payment method will ever overtake cards.
鈥淭he rise in popularity of contactless and wearable payment methods is a hot topic right now but our research shows that retailers and service providers are going to have to accept a variety of payment types for some time to come,鈥� said Sarah Lewis, head of ID and fraud for the UK at Equifax.
鈥淢any consumers have been early adopters of contactless and wearable payments and really value the convenience of these options, but others remain wary and prefer the more traditional means.
鈥淐ontactless payment is not without its risks and these results show that consumers are well aware of this. There has been talk about increasing the contactless payment limit but this would simply increase the incentive for criminals to steal contactless cards, resulting in higher levels of related fraudulent activity.
鈥淐ontactless and wearable payments will continue to grow in popularity, but the financial services industry has a lot of work to do to make customers completely comfortable with these options.鈥�