Page 16 - PA_Enterprise_October-November-2021

PA Enterprise
Nearly 75% of people still
want the option to set their
own contactless limit
A recent study by KIS Finance has revealed some interesting statistics in
relation to the limit for contactless payments increasing to £100 today.
Key Statistics:
 73.1% of people want the option to set
their own contactless limit.
 44.8% of people are happy for the
contactless limit to increase to £100.
 38.1% of people think that the contactless
limit should be kept at £45.
 12.2% of people think that the contactless
limit should have been kept at £30.
 Less than 1% of people would be happy
for the contactless limit to go above £100/
become limitless.
Today, the limit for contactless payments has
increased from £45 to £100 per transaction.
The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has stated that this
“will make it easier than ever to pay safely and
securely” as well as providing a welcome boost for
retailers and shoppers after a very difficult year
for the economy.
Contactless card payments were introduced in
2007, with a limit of £10 per transaction. The limit
has been raised gradually over the years with an
increase to £20 being made in 2012 and then to
£30 in 2015.
At the start of the pandemic in 2020, shoppers
16 October/November 2021
were encouraged to only use card payments in
shops, due to hygiene reasons, with some smaller
retailers not allowing any cash payments at all.
This change in spending behaviour prompted
the government to make card transactions even
easier by raising the limit to £45.
Should banks give customers the option to set
their own spending limits?
The survey results send a very clear message
that customers want the option to set their
own contactless limits. Nearly three quarters
(73.1%) of people said that they want their bank
to introduce this option, rather than the limit
automatically increasing to £100.
Currently only the Lloyds Banking Group (Lloyds
Bank, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland) and Starling
Bank have introduced personalised contactless
limits which can be controlled through their
apps. Some banks, such as HSBC and Nationwide
will give their customers the ability to request a
non-contactless card but others have no plans to
introduce either function.
The two main reasons that people provided for
wanting to set their own limit were:
 To control spending (47.1%)
 Concerns over card theft (33.5%)
 Other (19.4%)
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