Every few years,the Reserve Bank carries out a nationwide survey of Australians’ payment habits. In 2007,it showed 70 per cent of all payments were made with cash,15 per cent with debit cards and another 11 per cent with credit cards.
By last year,however,cards accounted for more than three-quarters of all payments,with debit cards used in 51 per cent of cases. BPAY accounted for 2 per cent,internet or phone banking 3 per cent and PayPal 2 per cent.
Cheques,which were used 1 per cent of the time in 2007,had fallen to just 0.1 per cent. Last week,Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced the cheque system would be phased out by the end of this decade due to its high costs and diminishing usage.
Reserve Bank researchers Thuong Nguyen and Benjamin Watson said the drop in the use of cash had been driven by technology and COVID-19.
“Card payments now offer convenient contactless payments that speed up transactions;they have reduced the need for consumers to top up cash,have wide merchant acceptance facilitated by new payment providers,and have allowed for innovation in the payments space (such as storing cards in mobile wallets),” they found.
“The pandemic accelerated the shift away from cash as consumers complied with social distancing requirements by making more payments remotely and because of hygiene concerns with handling cash.”