![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_bbc1PNG.png\")
<\/p>\nBBC expert explained how the ‘change at the checkout’ will unfold from next Thursday<\/p>\n
10:20, 13 Mar 2026Updated 10:46, 13 Mar 2026<\/p>\n
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BBC Morning Live Consumer expert Rebecca Wilcox gave an update on contactless payment changes(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n
A BBC expert has given a key update on plans to allow major changes for anyone making a contactless payment from March 19. The Financial Conduct Authority is changing the limit from \u00a3100 for contactless card payments and BBC<\/a> Morning Live looked at how it might impact consumers at UK checkouts.<\/p>\n Shoppers could find it easier to pay bigger amounts using contactless, under the City regulator\u2019s plans. The current rules mean people can make payments of up to \u00a3100 per transaction when using physical contactless cards.<\/p>\n Under changes being made next week by the Financial Conduct Authority <\/a>(FCA), banks and payment providers with strong fraud controls will be able to set their own limits. And a key update has been issued by banks including Lloyds, HSBC, Santander, Barclays, Natwest and Monzo.<\/p>\n On BBC Morning Live Consumer expert Rebecca Wilcox said<\/a>: \u201cBasically the Financial Conduct Authority which is the regulator for all the banks has said we\u2019re going to go to an unlimited spend on contactless. Now. this is helpful for someone like me who is always forgetting their chip and pin but for most people actually we\u2019re not going to see a great change.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is happening from March 19 this year. So you used to have \u00a3100 limit <\/a>for every tap now it\u2019s going to be limitless but not now and I\u2019ll explain why. It first came in back in 2007 and that was a \u00a310 limit. Doesn\u2019t that seem lovely and innocent?\u201d She explained this was raised to \u00a315 in 2010, \u00a320 in 2012, \u00a330 in 2015. She added: \u201cCovid came in in 2020, which meant people didn\u2019t want to touch things, so it went up to \u00a345 and then again jumped quite quickly in October 2021 to \u00a3100, and that\u2019s where we\u2019ve stuck for a bit.<\/p>\n \u201cDid you know that 74 per cent of all UK card transactions are now contactless. We\u2019ve all forgotten out PIN except for the 10 per cent of us who still used Chip and PIN. The other 16 per cent is just online payment.<\/p>\n \u201cWeirdly, the average spend for your tap is \u00a316.83.\u201d Host Gethin Jones asked: \u201cIf that\u2019s the average, you have to wonder why we have to go beyond \u00a3100 for the contactless limit.\u201d<\/p>\n Rebecca said: \u201cIt is because the Financial Conduct Authority it has said it is looking at future proofing itself for flexibility with banks, and payment providers. So we don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with inflation. It is reflecting the changes in consumer demand and the banking response to inflation. It needs to allow for new technology<\/a> to come in, so it\u2019s not going to happen in the immediate future. Industry feedback is that most banks will keep to current limits because that\u2019s what they\u2019re set up for and the existing \u00a3100 limit is going to remain for many customers even after this change comes in from March 19.\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cWe have spoken to most of the major banks. We have spoken to Lloyds banking group, HSBC, Santander, Barclays, Natwest and Monzo and every single one of them says they are sticking with the \u00a3100 limit. So this has come in, the FCA\u2019s starting, and we\u2019re all thinking about it, we\u2019re all worried about it, but actually banks set their limits on it, and they go to what the customer wants. So if we all start going \u2018we\u2019d like to spend a bit more doing that\u2019 maybe they\u2019ll change it, but not in the immediate future.\u201d<\/p>\n Those that do will need to communicate the changes clearly to their customers, the regulator said. The aim is to allow firms to better respond to changing consumer demands, inflation and new technology.<\/p>\n Firms are also being encouraged to let customers set their own limit, or turn contactless off altogether, as many high street banks already do.<\/p>\n The popularity of contactless payments has surged over the years, with contactless card transaction limits having previously been increased in a series of steps.<\/p>\n According to consumer spending data from Barclays, 94.6% of eligible in-store card transactions were contactless in 2024.<\/p>\n Last year, there were 10 times as many contactless transactions per month than there were in 2015, according to Barclays. As well as a \u00a3100 limit for a single contactless card transaction, there is also a cumulative total of \u00a3300 in contactless transactions, or no more than five consecutive contactless transactions, since the last application of \u201cstrong customer authentication\u201d to verify a payment was made.<\/p>\n Under the rule change, firms will also have the flexibility to consider changing the cumulative contactless approach if they want to.<\/p>\n The FCA believes the option of greater flexibilities will incentivise firms to step up their fraud prevention, giving consumers greater protection.<\/p>\n Existing protections will remain in place, meaning consumers must be reimbursed in unauthorised fraud cases, such as if their card is lost or stolen.<\/p>\n