Cash payments 'making a comeback as people budget'

Shoppers are increasingly using cash as a budgeting tool, the Nationwide Building Society has said.

New data by the Swindon-based bank shows cash payments have risen for a third year in a row, and 10% more transactions were made from its ATMs in 2024 than 2023.

Withdrawals from the bank's ATMs increased 71% in Frome, Somerset, which is the ninth highest figure in the country.

"Money is tight, and having that cash in your pocket, knowing what you can spend, a lot of people use that as a budgeting tool," said Mark Nalder, director of Payment Strategy for Nationwide.

A Wiltshire greengrocer said more of his customers were paying in cash so they could "see where their money goes".

"It's easier to know where your money is going because as you take it out of your wallet, you can see it, but if you keep tapping your phone it disappears," Phil Collins, a farmer and greengrocer from Bromham near Devizes, told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

"We have options for card, you've got to otherwise you wouldn't survive nowadays I don't think."

Nationwide recorded around 32.8 million cash withdrawals from its 1260 ATMs in 2024, with an average amount of £112 taken out each time, figures show.

Mr Nalder said: "We saw quite a reduction in cash during Covid, people weren't going out, and we've definitely seen a surge back over the last two or three years.

"We're seeing more people use the ATMs and getting cash out, maybe not taking as much out."

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