A new report from the Aite Group, a financial services consultancy, suggests that the role of cash among consumers will continue to diminish.
The report, which was based on a survey conducted among consumers in the U.S, the United Kingdom and Australia, asked consumers about their payment habits, including gift giving.
"For most types of bills, the percentage of consumers paying with cash is in the single digits and lower than it was two years ago," the survey found. "Just two types of bills–rent and mortgage–are paid in cash by a higher percentage of consumers today than they were two years ago.
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"For bills like car registration, cell phone, auto insurance, and cable, the percentage of consumers paying in cash declined by roughly half between 2008 and 2010."
But the firm stressed that it was not joining other pundits who were forecasting a complete loss of cash.
"Despite forecasts of a cashless society, the United States is nowhere near the realization of this vision. In fact, if the use of cash were to decline by 17% every five years–what our forecast for 2015 calls for–then the use of cash in the United State wouldn't fall below US$1 billion before the year 2205, roughly 200 years from now."
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