Barclays increases limit on contactless cards

The group said it had decided to increase the maximum limit on purchases that can be made without people having to enter a Pin from 10 following demand from both customers and retailers.

Contactless payment cards enable customers to pay for items simply by holding their card against a special reader, without having to key in a Pin or insert the card into a terminal.

The value of a purchase is then debited from current accounts or added to credit card bills, in the same way it would be for a standard card transaction.

Barclays, which introduced the first contactless payment card in the UK through its Barclaycard subsidiary in 2007, is now giving contactless payment cards to its current account holders as standard.

More than two million contactless payment Barclays Visa debit cards and four million contactless payment Barclaycard credit cards have now been issued.

Brian Cunnington, head of debit cards for Barclays, said: "Contactless technology is undoubtedly the future of payments and we are seeing it grow hugely in popularity.

"More than two years after the first customers were issued with contactless cards, it is the right time for the industry limit to increase to 15, in line with demand from consumers and retailers alike.

"The new higher limit gives customers the flexibility of paying for even more transactions quickly, securely and conveniently via a contactless card payment and will lead to more retailers implementing the technology."

People can now use contactless payment cards at more than 20,000 payment terminals across the UK, including at Pret A Manger, Coffee Republic and Krispy Kreme, as well as at thousands of independent retailers.