19.6m contactless cards in the UK

But only 12 per cent of people know they have one.

Payment issuers have been sending out NFC capable cards to UK consumers in their millions, but the signs are that most punters have got no idea what they have in their wallets.

The new stats, from a YouGov study of 2,500 respondents, revealed that only 12 per cent of the British population believe they own one, and that 80 per cent of those who were aware of owning a contactless card have never used them for a transaction.

Of that that do, only five per cent of owners use them more than once a week.

What's more, the amounts contactless consumers are spending is decreasing. The first study, in May 2011, showed 34 per cent of consumers spending £10 to £15. But by November, that was just 18 per cent.

Previous research, from Barclaycard, had stated there were 17m cards in circulation in July 2011, and that there were 567m transactions across 67,000 connected merchants including McDonalds, EAT and Pret A Manger during that month.