The contactless spending limit is increasing from £30 to £45 from 1 April 2020 to help protect consumers and speed up queues at checkout.
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The current contactless limit to shop without tapping your pin is currently £30, but the spending limit is increasing to £45 from 1 April 2020.
You will not be able to use the £45 contactless in all shops straight away. The new limit is being rolled out gradually.
UK Finance has said the decision to raise the limit was after consultation between the retail sector and the finance and payments industry.
The change to the contactless limit had been under review for a while.
But, it has been brought forward as a way to support consumers who want to use contactless for purchases, instead of chip and PIN, during the coronavirus pandemic.
Other European counties have also increased their limits over the last week.
Increases in Greece, Ireland, Malta, Poland and Turkey have all gone ahead very recently to help consumers.
When is the contactless limit increasing?
From 1 April 2020, you will start to see more retailers accepting contactless with the new higher limit of £45.
Ok, most shops will be shut so you won’t see it in too many stores.
If you wanted to pay for more than £45 and still don’t want to touch the payment terminal, you could always look to set up your contactless mobile payment which has a higher upper limit.
Stephen Jones, CEO of UK Finance, said:
“The payments industry has been working closely with retailers to be able to increase the contactless payment limit to help customers with their shopping at this critical time for the country.
“This will give more people the choice to opt for the speed and convenience of purchasing goods using their contactless card, helping to cut queues at the checkout.
“The industry continues to work closely with the government and regulators to support customers impacted by Covid-19 and ensure that they can pay in a way that suits them.”
Is this the end of cash?
There are more people using cards nowadays, but there is still a big push for the government to keep access to cash.
In 2019, a massive £80.5 billion was spent on contactless payments, the latest UK Finance figures reveal. That’s 16% higher than the previous year!
Some people are worried about fraud when using contactless cards.
But, contactless fraud on payment cards and devices represents just 3.3% of overall card fraud losses, while 44% of all card transactions were contactless last year.
The fraud works out to be around 2.5p in every £100, so while it’s still awful, it’s not very high.
Also read: Do You Need an RFID Wallet to Stop Contactless Card Fraud?
Is it safe to use cash?
It is still safe to use cash.
The following places say there is no scientific evidence to say that cash can spread coronavirus:
- The World Health Organisation
- the Bank of England
- the European Central Bank and other national central banks, and
- renowned scientific institutions
So, there is no reason not to continue using cash.
There is no scientific evidence that there is an increased risk of spreading the coronavirus through the use of cash.
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