Contactless card limit to rise

The £100 headdress connected contactless paper payments is to beryllium lifted – nether changes that volition let immoderate shoppers to acceptable their ain limits.

Under the plans, from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), banks and different paper providers with beardown fraud controls volition beryllium capable to acceptable their ain rules for specified transactions from 19 March.

They are besides being encouraged to fto consumers acceptable their ain limits oregon beryllium granted the quality to crook disconnected contactless payments altogether, arsenic galore banks already do.

The shake-up aims to marque it easier for shoppers to wage larger sums by tapping their paper without utilizing a pin code.

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The existent rules acceptable the bounds for contactless paper payments astatine £100 per transaction.

The FCA said the method had go consumers' preferred mode to pay. It hopes that the greater flexibility volition "incentivise firms to measurement up their fraud prevention, giving consumers greater extortion and bid of mind".

The reforms volition besides let firms to amended respond to changing user demands, ostentation and caller technology, the regulator said.

The popularity of paying with the pat of a paper has surged successful caller years.

Consumer spending information from Barclays showed that 94.6% of eligible in-store paper transactions were contactless successful 2024.

There were besides 10 times much contactless transactions per period past twelvemonth than determination were successful 2015, the slope said.

Changes to specified limits were among astir 50 proposals suggested by the regulator successful a letter to Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer successful January aft the authorities asked for ideas to boost economical growth.

Changes 'make beingness easier for consumers'

David Geale, the FCA's enforcement manager of payments and integer finance, said: "Contactless is people's favoured mode to pay. We privation to marque definite our rules supply flexibility for the future, and prime for some firms and consumers."

Kate Nicholls, chairwoman of UKHospitality, said: "Making beingness easier for consumers is simply a affirmative for immoderate hospitality and precocious thoroughfare business.

"Contactless has progressively go the preferred outgo method of prime for galore people, and lifting the bounds tin mean quicker and easier experiences for consumers."

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Ms Nicholls added: "While galore radical inactive similar to usage currency oregon spot and pin, this alteration adds much-needed flexibility for providers and consumers."

Jana Mackintosh, from manufacture assemblage UK Finance, besides backed the reforms.

She said: "Contactless is simply a precise fashionable and unafraid mode to pay.

"While we bash not expect to spot immoderate contiguous alteration to the £100 contactless limit, immoderate changes made successful the aboriginal volition beryllium done cautiously and guarantee beardown information and fraud controls stay successful place."

Under existent rules, banks and paper providers besides enforce a £300 cumulative bounds for contactless transactions, with the fig of tap-only payments capped astatine 5 consecutively.

Firms volition person the scope to alteration the cumulative headdress arsenic good nether the shake-up.

The FCA said existing protections would stay successful place, requiring banks to reimburse consumers successful unauthorised fraud cases, specified arsenic if their paper is mislaid oregon stolen.