Doesn’t make too much of a difference to me with the likes of Apple Pay / Google Pay being available where the limit is practically limitless any but i can see why they’d be concerned over this.
I think they’re probably right. £100 with zero authentication would be a bit of a risk. I think probably 50 quid maximum and unlimited through the Pays with additional biometric etc. authentication makes a lot more sense.
That being said it doesn’t really make a difference to me as if someone uses my card it’s not me who’s going to lose out it’s the bank.
3 Likes
Canada increased their contactless limit to $250 (about £140) last year and actually saw a reduction in fraud. Contactless fraud remained about the same but ATM/Chip & PIN fraud was lowered (presumably because PIN surfing and card skimming was harder). In fact some merchants like Costco have a $400 contactless limit in Canada, although you have to be member (and show two forms of ID to get membership), so it would be kind of stupid to use a stolen card. Merchants are free to set their own limits above the $250 limit, its just they are liable for any fraud above that amount.
Unless the contactless limit is high enough to buy expensive items like electronics which are profitable to resell, the fraud rate is unlikely to increase. If the UK wanted to take a more cautious approach it could do what Canada used to do, have a $50 normal limit but have a $100 limit for groceries and dining (these are very low risk merchant types, that stolen cards are basically never used at).
12 Likes
Update on this
If only it was up to him
The FCA can set the boundaries for payments, under its rules, but the card issuers would have the power to set the actual limits.
From the original link in this thread.
1 Like
If I’m reading that right, what that means is Sunak (or the FCA) can say “You can allow contactless payments up to £100” but your bank can say “Jesus Christ fuck no” and leave your limit at the current lower level. Because who wants to double their fraud losses, eh?
5 Likes
I might be wrong here, but I’m pretty sure several banks (us included!) initially increased the rolling limit before you were prompted to use chip & pin but saw the fraud losses increase and so reduced it back down.
I suppose if the rolling limit doesn’t increase then the maximum somebody with a stolen card can ‘steal’ doesn’t change - just that it might be easier to make higher value purchases with it.
9 Likes
That makes sense to me and seems like a good idea.
If you want to make occasional larger purchases they will probably be OK but the overall level of risk isn’t increased - so fraud isn’t either.
It’s just like now but with more flexibility in when you can use your card contactlessly.
1 Like
The ideal solution IMO would be for the UK to get with the majority of Europe and support contactless-and-PIN for high value transactions
(Boop your card on the reader and, possibly after contemplating matters for a few seconds, the terminal prompts you to enter your PIN. This is also used when your unauthenticated contactless limit is reached)
24 Likes
agreed. This blew my mind when I first saw it in Italy
3 Likes
Is there any way that Monzo (and other banks) could allow customers to chose their card contactless limit?
It feels like it should be a simple additional variable (as you already track rolling limits for every customer) but perhaps it’s not so simple.
Personally I’d probably have mine at ~£30. I definitely don’t need it to be £100
Apple Pay / Google Pay is the answer. Let’s not overcomplicate this.
6 Likes
Go speak to the FCA and Government then and get them told 
I feel it’s too quick and I’m not sure there’s even that great a demand for it?
I found this unusual first time in 
but then found it not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
1 Like
Well, this has been confirmed…
I wonder what Monzo’s stance will be on whether they allow the full £100, or less.
1 Like
I would rather choose the maximum, generally I use Apple Pay but I feel uncomfortable about my cards have a £100 limit.
My Amex card can ask for a pin but sadly not everywhere takes because of the high interchange rate.
It just means someone can do it in one instead of two transactions really. It’s currently £45 so someone could easily do £90 in seconds.
The overall limit before needing your pin is still £100 so nothing has changed really.
2 Likes
Seen a few articles today after the budget quoting the limit before having to enter pin would increase to £300. As always waiting for actual evidence from FCA about that part.
1 Like
In an ideal world, you’d just set your limit to whatever you feel comfortable with. For me, that would probably be about £60. If you’re very well off, that could well be £600 or more…