Contactless payments have proven to be of great interest in the United Kingdom. A recent increase in payment limits has made people spend more money through this option. Paying for higher-value items is still a challenge, but things improve gradually.
Contactless Payment Spending Increases
In most countries, one can only use contactless payments for small transactions. A logical decision by financial institutions as a contactless payment doesn’t require a PIN code or any other form of verification. While culprits can still spend a lot of money this way, they cannot make any large purchases.
However, the limits also prove impractical for consumers. As a result, the limits were lifted to 100 GBP across the United Kingdom in 2021. A logical decision that improves contactless card spending by almost 30%. Consumers are eager to pay through this option as it is faster and requires little human interaction.
UK Finance’s Lee Hopley adds:
“These figures show the continued popularity of contactless payments, as well as the fact people are making higher-value payments. From October last year the new £100 limit was rolled out and it gives customers greater choice about how they pay for things like their weekly shop or a tank of fuel.”
UK consumers spent over 165 billion GBP in contactless transactions throughout 2021. Moreover, they completed over 13 billion transactions, equating to 415 per second. At this growth rate, contactless spending in the UK will be near 250 billion GBP annually in 2022.
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