to think a £100 contactless payment limit is asking for fraud

[chomalungma]

It's supposed to boost spending. For some reason.
Announced today in the budget.

I have rarely had to put my PIN in when using contactless. It's rare to see checks done. Unless I am missing something.

So now, if someone steals my card, they could spend a lot of money on it.

I would like to set my own limit. In fact, I would like to have a card that asks for a PIN at a higher frequency at the moment.

I don't really see the advantage of a £100 limit. I do see me forgetting my PIN as I rarely buy many things over £100 when shopping.

@HeartsAndClubs

Apple Pay doesn’t have a limit, however it does use biometrics to authenticate so is more secure. not on the watch it doesn’t.

Yes it does. If you have the skin contact on then it doesn’t need a pin. If this is off you need to input a pin.

I have no objection to raising the contactless limit but I genuinely don't understand how this is supposed to boost retail spending.

Do people really decide not to buy something because it's over £45 and so they can't use contactless ?!?!

Just use a credit card for everything - much safer as it's the credit card company's money. I keep my debit card locked away unless it's needed. Just do all your normal spending on credit and pay it off each month. Ideally with a cashback card and then all your spends will be 1-2% cheaper which does add up over a year.

@TheChip

I'd of thought it would make more sense to reduce the price, rather than increase it.

Less people would be touching the buttons if the spending price was lower. Now more people going to be touching because not everyone is going to spend 100 each time they use their card.

It's £100 maximum. So anything up to £100.

I am worried about this too

Is it something the bank can amend?

Or Should I make a point of inserting the card so the bank recognise that as my habit? I don't know what happens if you insert the card when the screen says you can use contactless?

@Hollyhead

Just use a credit card for everything - much safer as it's the credit card company's money. I keep my debit card locked away unless it's needed. Just do all your normal spending on credit and pay it off each month. Ideally with a cashback card and then all your spends will be 1-2% cheaper which does add up over a year.

I do the majority of my shopping on a cashback credit card, I use it on Apple Pay.

@TheChip

I'd of thought it would make more sense to reduce the price, rather than increase it.

Less people would be touching the buttons if the spending price was lower. Now more people going to be touching because not everyone is going to spend 100 each time they use their card.

It's the other way round - they haven't said you can only use contactless over £100, you can use it up to £100 when it was previously £45.

I am not very happy about this change. It means if you lose your card someone can use it to spend quite a lot of money before you might realise you've lost it. I think the £100 increase should be accompanied by having to put your PIN in every 5 transactions and maybe it could be programmed so it asks more often for higher value transactions.

@TheChip

I'd of thought it would make more sense to reduce the price, rather than increase it.

Less people would be touching the buttons if the spending price was lower. Now more people going to be touching because not everyone is going to spend 100 each time they use their card.

Higher limit means fewer people touching the keypad surely? This was why they raised it to £45 last year, so that more transactions could be contactless. Raising it to £100 will cover more again.

@LunaHeather

I am worried about this too

Is it something the bank can amend?

Or Should I make a point of inserting the card so the bank recognise that as my habit? I don't know what happens if you insert the card when the screen says you can use contactless?

Banks can amend things to a point, they have to stay within regulations obviously.

Banks don’t care at an individual level whether you use CnP or contactless.

I did say to a bank a few years ago I didn't want contactless but they said I had to have it or they would have to send me a "dumb" card which I could only use on a wired terminal and would not eg be able to use in a restaurant, train or indeed anywhere where they use wireless terminals,

Of course it has been very useful this year as places have been funny about accepting cash (it's nearly a year since I last used a cashpoint) but that isn't really the point.

Ahhh my bad. I thought it was the other way round! I still have a basic card so haven't used contactless myself. Hopefully they put some safety measures in place then as it's incentive for pick pockets!

I used to work for a bank and I've reported many, many cards lost.
I've never, not once, had an instance of contactless fraud.

I’ve got a prepaid contactless debit card that I take to work so if someone takes it from my bag in the rest room they can only spend what’s on there - normally no more than £40. A £100 limit seems like a thieves charter

I'm happy for it to go up to £100. The less times I need to touch the keypad, the better.

@poppycat10

I did say to a bank a few years ago I didn't want contactless but they said I had to have it or they would have to send me a "dumb" card which I could only use on a wired terminal and would not eg be able to use in a restaurant, train or indeed anywhere where they use wireless terminals,

Of course it has been very useful this year as places have been funny about accepting cash (it's nearly a year since I last used a cashpoint) but that isn't really the point.

Yes, mum tried this as well but the bloody tech is designed to drag everyone with it.

I use cash as much as possible now because I don't want to be a cashless society. and now nervous of being out with a card on me! Arses. I hope violent muggings don't increase.

@DoneAdulting

I used to work for a bank and I've reported many, many cards lost. I've never, not once, had an instance of contactless fraud.

So never had a case of people stealing contactless cards, spending what they can etc?

I think £45 is fine. I don’t generally spend up to £100 at a time, unless food or clothes shopping and then I’m happy to use PIN. Most transactions are less than £45 - at least personally.

I would want to fix my own limit - keep it as it is, or reduce back to £30. We also keep our CC at a lower credit limit than offered, because we don’t need it and I would like to avoid fraud as much as I can. Already get fraudulent activity on CC at least once each year, when cards have to be reissued, without losing possession of the original. Fraud is rife!

@DoneAdulting

I used to work for a bank and I've reported many, many cards lost. I've never, not once, had an instance of contactless fraud.

From Which

Industry figures suggest contactless card fraud remains low, amounting to 2.7p in every £100 spent using the technology in 2018 - the same level recorded in 2016 and 2017 - representing just 3% of overall card fraud.

The £30-per-transaction limit is one safeguard, and card issuers also restrict the number of contactless transactions that can be made before the Pin is requested.

Our previous research found that some banks failed to protect their customers properly.

In 2016, we asked volunteers to use their tap-and-pay cards on the high street, spending between £20 and £30 each time, and to keep shopping until they were asked for a Pin, to see how much a thief could spend unchecked.

While most banks asked for a Pin, or blocked the card, after three to five transactions, three debit card providers - Barclays, the Co-operative Bank and TSB - allowed our 'thieves' to spend more than £200 through 10 consecutive transactions in just three hours. A real thief might well have continued.

Since 14 September 2019, new 'strong customer authentication' rules under the EU’s second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) have required banks to ask for a Pin if your cumulative contactless payments exceed €150 (roughly £130) or five consecutive contactless payments have been made.

PSD2 also states that a Pin should be requested where the contactless transaction exceeds €50 (around £43) though there are no current plans to change the existing £30 contactless limit in the UK.

------------------------

However, we've left the EU now.

PSD2 is very much regulatory in the uk still don’t worry!

Also new e-commerce regulations coming in September that should have been delivered as part of PSD2 and weren’t.

Not sure how raising the limit will boost spending. It is not like you will suddenly have more money. The whole contactless payment doesn't sit right with me anyway... it is so easy to let spending get out of control. I prefer to withdrawal cash and use that.

I requested a non contactless card from my bank, so I have to use my pin for every transaction. I still use cash when I can though.

Meh if it happens you just get the money back easy enough once you report card stolen

£100 limit alongside everyone in shops wearing masks...I can’t see any potential issues here at all if cards get stolen 🤔

Except for the weekly shop, I think I will start leaving my card at home and carrying cash instead.

@Sexnotgender

PSD2 is very much regulatory in the uk still don’t worry!

Also new e-commerce regulations coming in September that should have been delivered as part of PSD2 and weren’t.

I thought that we could do all this because we'd left the EU

(according to the DM)