Limit for contactless card payments rises to £30 due to surge in usage

02 Sep 2015

Shoppers in the UK will be able to pay amounts of up to £30 following a surge in contactless card payments.

The previous £20 limit for wave-and-pay card payments has been revoked, as contactless card payments proved popular with UK shoppers.

During the first half of this year, shopping transactions totalled £2.5bn, proving to be significantly higher than 2014’s total of £2.32bn.

The decision to increase contactless card payment limits also coincides with the release of technology giant Apple’s ‘Apple Pay’ feature, which allows owners of Apple devices to make contactless payments.

Kevin Jenkins, managing director of UK and Ireland Visa Europe suggested that contactless card payments were the ‘new normal’.

However, consumer group Which? has warned that contactless cards could be open to exploitation by persistent fraudsters.

Research by Which? suggests that some online retailers forfeit card security at the checkout stage in favour of a speedier transaction.