British Retailers Want a Contactless Payment Limit Hike
Contactless payment systems are big business in Great Britain, as a report from Barclaycard says that retailers that allow contactless payments are, on average, seeing big hikes in average transactions. In fact, for 75 percent of retailers, transactions are up about 30 percent. With that many retailers seeing that many more transactions, it’s not surprising they want to keep the streak alive, and have thus started looking to boost the transaction limits.
Right now, in the UK, contactless payments have to top out at 30 pounds sterling, or around $39.71 as of this writing. That means a lot of bigger purchases, or large numbers of smaller purchases, are pretty much off the table, and that’s a point not lost on the retailers.
The last limit was 20 pounds sterling back in mid-2015, which was raised in September of that year to the current 30 pounds. Now, retailers want a much bigger raise, to 100 pounds sterling. That’s a point over half of retailers in a recent study agreed on.
Given that contactless payment technology has been in play for the last decade in the UK—it started up with a Barclaycard system geared toward London commuters—and around 60 percent of Brits are currently using such technology, it’s safe to say that it’s proven safe.
Speed, security, convenience; a combination of tested technology with a decade of regular use behind it coupled with easy access and wide acceptance makes for a mobile payment system that’s a match for most anything in the field. So why would anyone not be using this technology? The inbuilt limits seem to be a bigger hassle than they’re worth; a technology this safe probably shouldn’t have limits to begin with.
Of course, what if it’s the limits that’s helping to keep it safe? Criminals may well not be wasting time trying to get access to a technology that can really only offer access to $39 worth of goods at any one time. That’s strictly speculative, of course, but it could be a point to consider.
Still, even if that’s the case, the chances of fraud or other crime risk rising significantly in the face of a step up from $39 and change to $132 and change is likely light enough to be well worth putting in place.