Rollout of new £100 contactless limit begins

The national roll-out of the new £100 spending limit for contactless card payments will begin today, Friday 15 October.

Trade body UK Finance said the £100 limit may not be available across all retailers immediately, given the number of terminals that need to be updated. Where the retailer’s terminal has not been updated, payment cards can still be used as before, it added.

From January to July of this year 60 per cent of all debit and credit card transactions in the UK were made using contactless. This accounted for 6.6 billion payments, a value of £81.4 billion.

“The new £100 limit offers customers greater choice about how they pay for things like their weekly shop or a tank of fuel. Contactless payments have become increasingly popular, and the payments industry has worked hard to ensure retailers are able to offer customers the new higher limit,” David Postings, Chief Executive of UK Finance, said.

The decision to raise the contactless limit from £45 to £100 was made by the Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority following a public consultation and in discussion with both the retail and banking sectors. It follows on from the successful increase in the limit from £30 to £45 in April 2020.