Shoppers paying for good and services will now be able to tap their bank card for anything up to the value of £100 in a single transaction.
The increase had already been announced by the Government earlier this year, but banks had not yet decided when to implement it.
The existing £45 limit for a contactless payment is being increased in a national roll out that will see all payment terminals eventually accept more than double that amount without the need for someone to enter their card’s pin code.
Although UK Finance announced the change will take place today, October 15th, some shops might take longer to introduce the new limit, because they need to update their terminals.
David Postings, chief executive of UK Finance, said: “Contactless payment has proved very popular with consumers and an increasing number of transactions are being made using contactless technology.
“The increase in the limit to £100 will allow people to pay for higher value transactions like their weekly shop or filling up their car with fuel. The payments industry has worked hard to put in place the infrastructure to enable retailers to update their payments systems so they can start to offer their customers this new higher limit.”
