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UK scraps the £100 contactless limit from 19 March 2026 - convenience, fraud risk, and the knock-on for debt

Welcome to Debt Matters - the podcast that turns UK money headlines into practical takeaways for debt collection, credit control, and anyone trying to stay on top of bills.
From 19 March 2026, the UK’s £100 contactless card limit is being scrapped. The regulator is giving banks and card providers permission to set their own contactless limits - including the option to raise them, redesign them, or remove them. The same flexibility applies to the “cumulative” rule that currently forces a PIN after £300 of contactless spending or 5 consecutive taps.
Key point: this is not an automatic switch to unlimited spending for everyone. Each provider decides what to do next, and many may keep existing limits at first. But the rule change matters because it opens the door to higher limits over time.

Why change the rules?
The FCA says the payments world has moved on: contactless is now the default way many people pay in-store, prices are higher than when the cap was set, and mobile wallets can already approve larger payments using device security. The idea is flexibility — but with strong fraud controls and customer choice.

What it means for fraud and disputes

For collections and credit teams, the biggest operational impact is likely to be disputes.
Higher limits can increase the value of fraudulent “tap” spending if a card is lost or stolen.
More unauthorised transactions can mean more chargebacks, more complaints, and more customers pausing payments while a dispute is investigated.
Even without higher limits, the headlines alone can trigger “that wasn’t me” challenges.

What it means for household budgets and arrears
Contactless removes friction. That’s great for speed, but friction is also a budgeting tool. If limits rise, the risk isn’t that everyone starts tapping £200 for groceries — it’s that impulse buys get easier and the “moment to pause” happens less often. For some households, especially those using credit cards, that can translate into higher balances and more missed payments later.

What to watch next
Over the next few months, watch for bank communications in-app or by email about new limits, plus any new settings that let customers choose their own cap. Also remember that the current “PIN check” resets once you use chip-and-PIN or complete certain verified payments - so even today, contactless isn’t truly “no checks forever”; it’s a pattern of checks that may change under the new flexibility.

Practical actions (worth sharing with listeners)
For consumers:
Turn on instant spending alerts in your banking app.
If your bank offers it, set your own contactless limit (or keep it low).
Consider turning contactless off on a credit card if overspending is a risk.
If a card goes missing, freeze it immediately and report it straight away.

For lenders, creditors, and agencies:
Update scripts and FAQs for “contactless fraud” and “unauthorised transactions”.
Tighten evidence collection: timestamps, merchant details, customer comms, and vulnerability notes.
Plan for a potential uplift in dispute volume around March 2026 and afterwards if limits rise.
Make customer control easy: clear signposting to limit settings and card-freeze steps.
The £100 cap ending on 19 March 2026 is less about “unlimited taps tomorrow” and more about a future where providers can raise limits — and where customer controls and fraud prevention matter even more. If you work in collections or credit control, this is one to watch.
Thanks for listening to Debt Matters.
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