For the first time, some contactless payments will also have the additional protection of Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, which covers single items worth GBP 100 to GBP 30,000 purchased using a credit card.
The new limit gives the UK the seventh highest limit in the world and puts it top in Europe. The country with the highest limit is Canada, at GBP 147, while Iran has the lowest recorded contactless limit at GBP 3, followed by Malawi at GBP 5. In Europe, the Czech Republic has the lowest limit at GBP 17.
However, UK Finance has said that given the number of terminals that need to be updated, the GBP 100 limit may not be available across all retailers immediately. Its figures show that from January to July of 2021, 60% of all debit and credit card transactions in the UK were made using contactless. This accounted for 6.6 billion payments, a value of GBP 81.4 billion.
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