There are strong indications that the use of credit cards may soon become obsolete as banks move to boost contactless payment system.

Barclaycard, which introduced its first contactless credit card OnePulse a year ago, is planning to issue more than one million contactless cards by the end of the year.

Contactless cards like one OnePulse allow customers to pay for goods or services by touching the card against a reader without taking it out of their wallet.

And Barclaycard is now hoping to make it possible for users to put the chip into a mobile phone or key fob – this could mean the end of carrying a plastic credit card around.

Barclaycard chief executive officer, Anthony Jenkins commented today that: “In time you won’t have to carry a plastic around with you if you don’t want to, although some people will choose to for nostalgic reasons.”

In another development, a new study has found that credit card holders in the UK are now making only minimum repayments, taking them a longer time to payoff balance than the average mortgage.