Contactless cards have made inroads into consumers' use of cash over the past couple of years but people still have a strong preference for using cash when they are spending less than A$20.According to research commissioned by HP and conducted by RFi, consumers apply self-imposed limits on their spending using different payment methods. When using a debit card, prepaid card, or credit card the minimum value is between $20 and $30. For amounts below that level consumers prefer to use cash.RFi Australia's managing director advisory, Alan Shields, said: "Most businesses in the payments industry have an interest in seeing people use less cash."Shields said the industry passed an important milestone in December 2012, when debit card purchases exceeded ATM cash withdrawals for the first time."The next stage will be in changing consumers' preference for cash for low value payments."As part of its six-monthly survey of consumer payment trends, RFi asks people what payment methods they use in a typical month. Up to September 2012, close to 90 per cent of people said they used cash regularly.That number dipped in 2013, coinciding with the rollout of contactless point of sale terminals around the country, and has settled around 75 per cent.Shields said that after taking a dip in 2013, cash usage levels have steadied. Any further erosion in the use of cash would depend on the industry's ability to persuade consumers to use cards to make small payments.Shields said that at the moment consumers were getting mixed signals. Card scheme operators were encouraging them to use cards for small purchases but some merchants were refusing to accept cards for small payments or were charging a fee to do so.RFi found that the typical spending range for cash was up to $100, for Visa and MasterCard debit cards it was between $20 and $500, for eftpos debit was it between $20 and $300 and for credit cards it was between $30 and $1000.Shields said: "If the consumer is spending $10, cash is really the only contender currently."