Contactless limit

Shakin_Steve

Don't know if I'm behind the curve here, but I'm hearing that the contactless limit is to be raised to £100 in the budget today. Don't ask me why it should be a budget announcement, I read it in a local rag (Liverpool Echo)

eskbanker

Shakin_Steve said:

Don't ask me why it should be a budget announcement

Sugaring the pill presumably, on the basis that many will see this as a positive, although conversely some will consider it a greater fraud risk....

Shakin_Steve

Obviously, there will have to be a consultation period, and a dig at the EU, saying it's only possible because we left.

RG2015

There was a post a few weeks ago (possibly by @Colsten) advising that the Google Pay app already offered contactless at well above £100. I tried it and this is correct.

There was even an occasion when a Tesco Scan and Shop till was temporarily not accepting contactless, but it accepted my Google Pay app, again for over £100.

Sorry if this is already common knowledge.

Edit. Ha! It was on my own thread from January and it was @shinytop who posted that Apple/Google pay already had much higher limits.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6236018/contactless-limit-may-increase-to-100/p1

born_again

Apple pay has been virtually limitless for ages.

Looks like it is going to be £100 on your cards. Subject to retailers having lower limits if they want. So expect to have to enter your PIN even more now that with the limit @ £45 as banks increase security limits to avoid massive losses due to fraudulent use.

colsten

Aside from ApplePay, GooglePay, and I believe also SamsungPay and GarminPay, there is also TescoPay+ which you can only use at Tesco (incl their petrol stations) and for up to £250. All the others are up to the card limit.

Although all of these charge whichever card you registered with them, you can have great flexibility if you use a Curve card (free version of it). You can then very easily switch the actual card to be charged, even after you made a purchase. You can even pay contactless with card that aren't contactless. The limit on Curve payments is controlled by the underlying card limit as well as a Curve limit which seems very generous (£9,000/day for me).

colsten

 Here it is.

Ballard

colsten said:

Aside from ApplePay, GooglePay, and I believe also SamsungPay and GarminPay, there is also TescoPay+ which you can only use at Tesco (incl their petrol stations) and for up to £250. All the others are up to the card limit.

Although all of these charge whichever card you registered with them, you can have great flexibility if you use a Curve card (free version of it). You can then very easily switch the actual card to be charged, even after you made a purchase. You can even pay contactless with card that aren't contactless. The limit on Curve payments is controlled by the underlying card limit as well as a Curve limit which seems very generous (£9,000/day for me).

I suppose that it’s good that for those who really want to pay contactless but surely it’s easier to use the actual non-contactless card and enter your PIN then change the underlying card on Curve (however easy that might be). 

colsten

Ballard said:

colsten said:

Aside from ApplePay, GooglePay, and I believe also SamsungPay and GarminPay, there is also TescoPay+ which you can only use at Tesco (incl their petrol stations) and for up to £250. All the others are up to the card limit.

Although all of these charge whichever card you registered with them, you can have great flexibility if you use a Curve card (free version of it). You can then very easily switch the actual card to be charged, even after you made a purchase. You can even pay contactless with card that aren't contactless. The limit on Curve payments is controlled by the underlying card limit as well as a Curve limit which seems very generous (£9,000/day for me).

I suppose that it’s good that for those who really want to pay contactless but surely it’s easier to use the actual non-contactless card and enter your PIN then change the underlying card on Curve (however easy that might be). 

It's a great deal easier for me to use Curve. For starters, I do not ever need to actually have any of my other cards on me - they are all safely locked away in my home safe at all times. As I am completely mobile, I don't even take my Curve card out of the house these days. I either pay with my watch, or with my phone. No card needed, and no PIN. Everywhere takes contactless these days, and if I ever get stuck, I can even get cash out of an ATM without a card (although that is not a Curve feature).

Changing the underlying card is a doddle with the Curve app - and if I forget to do that, or if I change my mind after a purchase, I can move the purchase to a different card, within 90 days of the purchase. 

colsten

FCA announcement: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-confirms-increase-thresholds-contactless-payments

Still no dates given. I suppose it will take a while before the retailers have updated their payment terminals.

jbrassy

From: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/mar/03/uk-contactless-payment-limit-rise-rishi-sunak-budget

"The higher limit will be legally in force from Wednesday but behind the scenes, systems will need to be changed, so it is likely shoppers will not notice the difference until later this year."