Cash card limit in shops is increased to £100

THE limit on contactless payments in shops and stores is to more than double, to £100.

The change from the current £45 limit, said the Treasury, would make transactions “easier than ever” and, as part of the UK Government’s Plan for Jobs, would provide a big boost to the struggling retail sector.

Although the limit is being increased to £100, the number of consecutive transactions before consumers are required to provide their PIN remains at five.

However, the cumulative transaction limit, which is how much they can spend across those five payments, will rise to £300.

The change is likely to accelerate a decline in the use of cash

Last autumn, ATM data showed cash usage had nearly halved in three years.

Figures from Link, which manages most of the country’s cash machines, showed in September 2017 there were some 170 million withdrawals from ATMS; last September this had fallen to just 88 million.

Fears are growing about the reduction in free withdrawal cash machines.

Last week, research showed the parliamentary constituency of Glasgow North West had seen, at 43 per cent, one the largest reductions across the UK in free ATMS during the past two years, from 86 to 47, while the number of pay-to-use cashpoints in the area had shot up from 11 to 34 over the same period.

The proportion of debit card payments using contactless has risen since the onset of Covid-19 from four out 10 in 2019 to six out of 10 by September 2020.