Contactless card limit to rise to £100 in October

[Itsallaguess]

From the BBC this morning -

The spending limit on each use of a contactless card is to rise from £45 to £100 from 15 October, banks have revealed.

The maximum amount was increased from £30 to its current level at the start of the pandemic, and plans to raise it further were announced in the Budget.

Nearly two-thirds of all debit card transactions are made via the tap-and-go technology.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58354855

I'm a relatively new convert to contactless when using my debit card, and find that I'm happy to use the facility more and more.

I'm still careful to make sure I always get a receipt though, as I like to reconcile my income and outgoings in my Microsoft Money file, but as far as the technology is concerned, I think it's a useful facility that I do take advantage of quite a lot nowadays.

It's actually surprised me how quickly I've moved to an almost completely cash-less way of living to be quite honest. The single biggest driver for knowing that's happened is that I've always had a money-jar under my bed where I used to deposit pocket-change, and until a couple of years ago I used to bag the coins up every six months or so and take them into my bank to deposit into my current account. I honestly can't remember the last time I did that, and having just taken a look, the jar is still only half full...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Lootman]

I'm a relatively new convert to contactless when using my debit card, and find that I'm happy to use the facility more and more.

Do you consciously not use contactless with credit cards?

I am the exact opposite. I love contactless for credit cards, but do not use it with debit cards as I do not like my bank statement to be cluttered up with lots of small transactions.

[pje16]

If it was April 1 I would think that was joke
all you have to do is lose your card, or drop it on a night out and then BASH WAP BANG
100, 100, 100,
the banks are asking to get clobbered

[AsleepInYorkshire]

If it was April 1 I would think that was joke
all you have to do is lose your card, or drop it on a night out and then BASH WAP BANG
100, 100, 100,
the banks are asking to get clobbered

We had the same talk with our daughter two nights ago.

Lose your card and the account can be emptied quite quickly.

AiY

[Itsallaguess]

I'm a relatively new convert to contactless when using my debit card, and find that I'm happy to use the facility more and more.

Do you consciously not use contactless with credit cards?

I am the exact opposite. I love contactless for credit cards, but do not use it with debit cards as I do not like my bank statement to be cluttered up with lots of small transactions.

I don't have a credit card.

I have a debit card associated with my current account, and that's it as far as financial cards go.

I see your point regarding lots of small transactions, but my spending habits are relatively steady and my reconciling processes have been embedded for that long now that it's more of a habit than any real hassle to be honest, and any transaction will be there with my debit card whether I use contactless or use the pin process.

Any receipts stay in my pocket until they're entered into my Microsoft Money file, and then they're either thrown away or kept if they're important and might be useful for proof-of-purchase purposes. It takes minutes a month and isn't really any hassle at all, and to be quite honest, the return on doing so is very, very useful in terms of being able to track and monitor my spending, and also keep a record of items I've bought, and from where, which is really handy for things like makes and models of stuff, sizes of items, Amazon item numbers etc....so the long-term spending record is very useful to me in and of itself...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[pje16]

If it was April 1 I would think that was joke
all you have to do is lose your card, or drop it on a night out and then BASH WAP BANG
100, 100, 100,
the banks are asking to get clobbered

We had the same talk with our daughter two nights ago.

Lose your card and the account can be emptied quite quickly.

AiY

I was a member of Barclaycard Future Forum a few years ago and it was before contactless came out
It was a place where BC garnered suggestions and ideas from users and gathered feedback
When Contactless was put up by BC as a forthcoming feature it was all "WHOOP WHOOP HURRAY" and no more pin numbers to remember etc
The mood of the thread changed totally when I made my point
I was quite pleased that common sense had been recognised

[Dod101]

I suppose that banks will have some sort of check in place if there were a series of £100 debits taking place and contactless does not as far as I know allow you to get cash as in banknotes. Still, I cannot really see the benefit of raising the limit.

Dod

[pje16]

If you're smart villain you don't 100, 100, 100,
switch it around a bit
PS I am not a villian - smart or otherwise

[Itsallaguess]

all you have to do is lose your card, or drop it on a night out and then BASH WAP BANG

100, 100, 100,

the banks are asking to get clobbered

Contactless payments will occasionally still ask for PIN number verification to help stop or at least limit these types of risks.

From the Barclaycard site -

Contactless payments are secure.

You enjoy the same 100% fraud protection on contactless payments as your normal Chip & PIN transactions.

For security purposes, you’ll occasionally be asked to enter your PIN when making a contactless payment.

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/help/contactless-payments/contactless-payments-secure

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[pje16]

Yes the banks bear the brunt (always have done) not you
but then they get it bank via higher charges - see how it works

[Itsallaguess]

Yes the banks bear the brunt (always have done) not you

but then they get it back via higher charges - see how it works

I'm sorry, I don't - primarily because I've never paid a penny in charges for my current account, and I've had the account for over 30 years....

I accept your premise that the banks will sometimes bear the cost of fraud - I don't think there's any great issues with that fact, but it's clearly a cost of business that they're happy to put up with in the round, similar to advertising costs and employee wages, but they're a business at the end of the day, and I will trust that they know more about risk-management on this side of things than me, and will let them get on with their business whilst they do that....

They're doubling an existing limit - and I'd have to ask that if the central premise of the technology and risk was doubtful, and open to costly fraud at a level that they couldn't cope with, then they'd know that by now from the earlier use-cases, and so I'll take the fact that they're now doubling the contactless limit as a sign that they're happy with how that previous limit played out, and are willing to open it up to a higher one...

They're not doing this blind......they've got all the data they need for risk-management here, I suspect...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[pje16]

I'll raise that
No charges ever on any credit card or bank since 1986 and 1981 respectively, when I first had them
I was being a bit flippant as is my won't
Banks won't lose out in the end, they'll put better checks in place, but they do make money by charging their customers

[Dod101]

The thread seems to have turned a bit more to common sense but I was going to say that I cannot imagine that the banks would have agreed to increase the limit unless there was some benefit to them and secondly that the amount of additional fraud losses from increasing the limit from £30 to £45 must surely have been within acceptable limits. Increasing the limit to £100 will now presumably bring many supermarket trips within contactless as well as many other transactions, thus speeding things up at the tills.

Dod

[CliffEdge]

Stupid idea.

[simoan]

If I'm honest, I'm a bit surprised that people are still using cards! I started using Apple Pay due to the pandemic and have never looked back. Works seamlessly, gives you a full history of your payments (so no need for paper invoice) and is much more secure because payment is protected by Face ID and no-one ever sees the details of the payment card.

Am I alone in using my phone to pay for everything? I can't remember the last time I went out to buy anything with a credit card!

All the best, Si

[bluedonkey]

Banks make their money from charges to the merchant rather than the consumer.

[kempiejon]

You can disable the contactlessness, there's a few web suggestions on t'web.
Like simoan SO never uses cards but apple/google pay. I use the cards as my phone is not smart and often not with me.

[AF62]

If I'm honest, I'm a bit surprised that people are still using cards! I started using Apple Pay due to the pandemic and have never looked back. Works seamlessly, gives you a full history of your payments (so no need for paper invoice) and is much more secure because payment is protected by Face ID and no-one ever sees the details of the payment card.

Am I alone in using my phone to pay for everything? I can't remember the last time I went out to buy anything with a credit card!

All the best, Si

Absolutely the same as you, although these days I tend to use my Apple watch and leave my phone at home.

And of course the thing which will scare some people here witless is that there is no limit for paying contactless with Apple Pay - only the credit limit of your card. Earlier this year I bought a car using Apple Pay contactless, and it was a lot more expensive than £45.

[Lootman]

Am I alone in using my phone to pay for everything? I can't remember the last time I went out to buy anything with a credit card!

Credit cards come with rewards such as points and miles. Over the years I have had numerous free flights in first or business class to various destinations. So not only do the cards not cost me anything (although one does have an annual fee I am happy to pay) but they actually pay me back.

I do not do any financial activity on a phone. I am sure you are not alone here in using only a phone, but I'd be willing to bet that more Lemons use cards, if only because of the older demographic here. My kids have never written a cheque either, although they seem happy to receive them.

[simoan]

Am I alone in using my phone to pay for everything? I can't remember the last time I went out to buy anything with a credit card!

Credit cards come with rewards such as points and miles. Over the years I have had numerous free flights in first or business class to various destinations. So not only do the cards not cost me anything (although one does have an annual fee I am happy to pay) but they actually pay me back.

Yes, of course, but we're talking about making many very small transactions here. You'd need a lot of those to get a free business class flight. Large purchases that will stack up the points I'd still be doing on-line using a credit card. For me, the security benefits of going card-less and not having to take a card with me when I go out far outweigh any minor benefits of gaining reward points every time I buy a couple of beers, lunch etc.

All the best, Si