A new service being trialed in the US could see credit cards become obsolete within a few years according to financial experts.

The UK bank has joined forces with US companies, AT&T, Verizon and TMobile to trial out technology that would allow US consumers to buy products and services simply by waving their mobile phone at a reader.

Currently, the trials are only running in a few US cities and the service will only work with smartphones like the iPhone and Blackberry.

The new phones would contain an RFID chip inside them that is linked to a customers bank account. When a consumer waved the phone in front of a product the money would then be deducted from their account.

Discover will process the payments while Barclays would help to manage the accounts. As yet, none of the companies involved have confirmed the existence of the service. The service could have wider implications for the future and will lead to a significant change in the way that people spend money when shopping.

According to industry research house Nilson Report, there were 576.4m credit cards in circulation in the US at the end of 2009, with the average number of cards held standing at 3.5.