The contactless limit on Allstar Visa cards has now been raised to £100, streamlining payment processes for business expenses.
With transactions of £100 and below no longer needing a PIN to be entered, payments are faster and more efficient, while also removing the administrative load needed to manage forgotten or lost PINs.
At Allstar we also understand our customers may prefer to have a lower contactless amount, or may not want contactless to be available on certain cards. If this is the case, you can call Customer Services or contact your account manager to set the contactless limits your business requires.
Alan Buckland, VP, Product, at Allstar said: “The introduction of the £100 contactless limit is another example of Allstar providing solutions that make it easier for businesses to make payments, especially helping those busy employees out on the road. But while we want to make transactions more efficient and reduce administration, we also recognise that control is crucial – which is why the choice to use contactless on our cards remains with the customer.”
The decision to raise the contactless limit from £45 to £100 was made following a consultation with HM Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority, and retail and banking sectors, following the successful increase from £30 to £45 in April 2020.
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.”
Research by UK Finance found in 2020 the number of contactless payments made in the UK increased by 12% to 9.6bn, with contactless fraud rates equivalent to less than 2p in every £100 spent in early 2020.
According to UK Finance, there has never been any verified report in the UK of a fraudster taking money from a contactless card just by being close, or bumping into somebody. It says it is not possible to simply ‘steal’ cash from a contactless card, because money must go through the card retail payment system.
With every card payment fully traceable, right through to the recipient account, if any fraudulent activity was reported the recipient could be easily identified and the money would be taken back.
Please be mindful that the increase to £100 also requires traders to upgrade their systems, so cardholders might find the new limit doesn't work in certain shops or restaurants. This should decrease more and more as businesses update their systems.