Contactless card spending limit rises to £30

From today you can spend up to £30 in a contactless transaction. But how do you stay safe?

You can now spend up to £30 in a contactless transaction, after the spending limit was raised from £20.

The limit increase was announced back in February of this year, and comes into force today.

New research from Lloyds shows that 57% said they don’t want the limit to increase any further over £30, while 38% said they would like to see it increase to £50. A tiny 6% would like to see it increase even further above £50.

How we use them

The use of contactless cards has rocketed over the past 12 months according to Barclaycard. The amount we spent rose by 150%, while the number of transactions rose by 134%.

Supermarkets get almost a third (29%) of transactions, with restaurants not far behind on 20% as we’re eating and drinking out more than we were a year ago.

Among the lowest were newsagents on only 2%. This suggests that some may not have contactless facilities just yet.

Here are the top 10 places that we use contactless:

Source: Barclaycard

You can use your contactless card anywhere you see the contactless logo. Try Aldi, Boots, Costa Coffee and the Co-operative Pharmacy.

Barclaycard expects another increase next year alongside the launch of High Value Payments where contactless payments over £30 can be made using a mobile device combined with Chip and PIN authorisation.

Keep your card safe

There are still concerns about theft on contactless cards. One of the best things you can do is grab some tin foil from the kitchen and wrap your card in it. The metal prevents the card being picked up by a fraudster's card reader, even when they’re in close contact. You could also buy a metal card case if you fancy something a little slicker. Find out more at How a foil-lined wallet can protect you from fraud.

Aside from that, it’s best to keep your contactless separate from your other readable cards to avoid ‘card clash’ if you can. Check your bank statements regularly for any unusual transactions that you might have missed as smaller transactions might be more difficult to spot.

The risk of contactless fraud is still relatively low. Just 0.7p for every £100 spent on contactless is lost to fraud which is less than non-contactless cards overall.

In any case, your provider will refund money you’ve lost through fraudulent contactless payments as long as you acted reasonably to protect your card.

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