UK Finance has published guidance on upcoming changes to contactless limits.
Currently, contactless debit and credit cards are subject to:
- A single transaction limit of £100
- Background limits that require a consumer to enter their PIN after a certain number of transactions or amount of spend (no more than £300).
From 19 March 2026, the FCA will allow banks and payment providers with strong fraud controls flexibility over contactless payment limits. Customers are unlikely to see any immediate change, as separate changes also need to be made to card acceptance terminals and applicable industry rules to allow them to process higher payments.
Mobile payments such as Apple or Google Pay will continue to operate without a fixed £100 limit.
UK Finance also highlights that:
- Contactless is the most popular payment method for UK consumers, accounting for 67% of all credit card and 76% of all debit card transactions;
- The average value of a contactless payment is around £18;
- 98.7m contactless debit cards (out of 108.8m total) and 58.8m credit cards (out of 60.4m total) are currently in issue; and
- 19.2bn contactless payments valuing £311bn were made in the UK in 2025