More than £2.5bn (US$3.8bn) was spent using contactless cards in the UK in the first half of 2015 compared to £2.32bn (US$3.55bn) for the whole of 2014, research from The UK Cards Association reveals as the UK contactless limit is raised from £20 (US$30) to £30 (US$46).

Contactless spending rose from £287m (US$440m) per month in January 2015 to £567m (US$869m) in June, with more than 69m contactless payment cards now in circulation and more than 9.3m issued to consumers in the same period.

Last week, Barclaycard revealed the amount UK consumers are spending using contactless has risen 150% in the last 12 months, while MasterCard also said the amount British consumers spent using contactless cards increased 560% in the last 12 months.

The rise could lead to an extra 3m Visa contactless transactions a day, valued at more than £70m (US$107.3m), Visa Europe says.

“Contactless payments are fast, easy and secure,” says Graham Peacop, CEO of The UK Cards Association. “With more contactless cards in wallets than ever before and a growing number of retailers accepting contactless payments we have seen a huge rise in the number of payments being made.

“The growth in contactless payments shows people want to use contactless cards and increasing the limit gives customers even more opportunities to pay in this way.”

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