Contactless payment limit will rise to £100
27th August 2021 12:39
by Myron Jobson from interactive investor
interactive investor comments on the announcement from UK Finance.
UK Finance has today announced that the new £100 spending limit for contactless card payments will begin from 15 October 2021.
Commenting, Myron Jobson, Personal Finance Campaigner, interactive investor, says: “The increase in the transaction limit of contactless payments from £10 to £100 in little over 14 years shows the stark shift in the nation’s payments preferences.
“Contactless cards were initially used as a quick and convenient way to buy snacks, newspapers and other small-value purchases in place of small change but are increasingly being used to make bigger purchases as the transaction limit has increased over the years.
“In the last four years, contactless payments have jumped from just 7% of all payments to 27%. The pandemic has sped up the transition to a cashless society, with card payments preferred over cash to reduce physical contact.
“However, upping the limit to £100 could exacerbate the problem of pickpockets or malicious individuals using lost bank cards to make as many transactions as possible before the account is blocked.
“While banks have security systems in place to detect fraudulent contactless transactions and victims of contactless fraud may be able to recover the lost capital, it may take some time to do so – time that many Britons struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic may not have.”
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