£100 Contactless Card Limit to Be Lifted: What’s Changing, When, and What It Means for Your Money

The UK’s £100 contactless card limit is about to stop being a fixed national rule.

On 19 December 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed a rule change that removes the regulatory contactless limits and replaces them with a more flexible, risk-based approach. The changes take effect on 19 March 2026.

In plain English: banks and payment providers will be able to set their own contactless limits (including potentially no single-tap cap), as long as they have strong fraud controls.

1) What is changing?

The headline change

• The FCA is removing the regulatory cap that currently limits a single contactless card payment to £100.

What replaces it

• Banks and payment service providers (PSPs) with strong fraud controls can set their own limits.
• The FCA is encouraging providers to let customers:
  • set their own personal contactless limit, and/or
  • turn contactless off entirely.

When it changes

• The FCA’s rule change comes into force on 19 March 2026.

Important detail: This does not automatically mean every bank will raise the limit on day one. It means the national rule no longer forces everyone to use the same cap.

2) Why is it happening now?

The FCA’s stated rationale is about:

• flexibility (inflation and changing spending habits)
• new technology (payments evolving quickly)
• removing red tape so firms can tailor limits and controls

The regulator also points out how dominant contactless has become in everyday spending (Barclays research cited by the FCA indicates that almost 95% of eligible in-store card transactions were contactless in 2024).

3) Contactless cards vs phone payments (why the rules feel outdated)

Many people already use Apple Pay / Google Pay for high-value contactless payments, because:

• devices can require biometric authentication (Face ID / fingerprint)
• the security model is different from a physical card tap

So part of the “pressure” behind this change is that physical cards were operating under a stricter national cap, while many device-based taps can already handle larger amounts.

4) Does lifting the limit increase fraud risk?

Potentially — and this is the main concern raised whenever limits rise.

The FCA’s position is essentially:

• firms must have strong fraud controls
• this flexibility should push providers to improve detection and prevention
• consumer protections remain (including reimbursement for unauthorised fraud in relevant scenarios)

In other words: the regulator is shifting from a one-size-fits-all cap to a risk-based compliance model.

5) What “control” do banks get, and what control do you get?

Banks/providers get

• the ability to set their own limits (or choose not to change anything)
• responsibility to prove fraud controls are strong enough

Consumers should get (increasingly)

• the ability to set a personal limit (for example £50, £100, £200)
• the option to disable contactless
• ongoing reimbursement protections for unauthorised transactions (subject to rules and prompt reporting)

This matters because the biggest downside of higher limits is not just fraud — it is also loss of spending friction.

6) What this means in real life (examples)

Example A: weekly shop

If your bank raises the limit above £100, you could tap and pay for a larger grocery bill without chip-and-PIN.

Example B: small business / hospitality

Faster payments can reduce queues and speed up service, especially in busy venues.

Example C: budgeting

If you rely on “PIN prompts” as a spending checkpoint, you may prefer to keep a lower personal limit.

7) Practical steps to stay safe

If your provider increases limits in 2026, the simplest “personal control” actions are:

• check your banking app settings for contactless controls
• set a personal cap that matches your comfort level
• enable instant transaction notifications
• report a lost/stolen card immediately
• consider using phone payments for higher value taps, where biometric authentication may add comfort

Summary

• The FCA has confirmed the UK’s regulatory £100 contactless cap will be removed.
• The rule change takes effect on 19 March 2026.
• Banks and payment providers will be able to set their own limits (with strong fraud controls), and customers should increasingly be able to set personal limits or disable contactless.

This is a meaningful shift: contactless becomes more like a policy decision by your provider rather than a single UK-wide rule.

Sources (accessed December 2025)

• FCA press release (19 Dec 2025): Greater flexibility to be given for setting future contactless limits
  https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/greater-flexibility-be-given-setting-future-contactless-limits

• FCA Handbook Notice No. 136 (December 2025): amendments removing regulatory contactless limits; instrument in force 19 March 2026
  https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/handbook/handbook-notice-136.pdf

• Sky News (19 Dec 2025): FCA plans to lift the £100 cap; customer choice and fraud controls
  https://news.sky.com/story/contactless-card-100-limit-to-rise-13485548

• UK Finance (background): rollout of £100 limit in October 2021
  https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/press/press-releases/contactless-limit-increase-100-15-october

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice and does not take into account individual circumstances.