“There’s no logical reason why Apple Pay transaction costs should be limited, but in the U.K. users have been stuck with a limit of £20 ($30) since the service first debuted in July,” Luke Dormehl reports for Cult of Mac.
“Thanks to the rise of people using both Apple Pay and contactless cards in general, however, that number has now been increased by 50 percent to £30 ($46),” Dormehl reports. “According to the U.K. Cards Association, the new £30 limit means that the average supermarket spend of £25 ($38) will now be covered.”
Dormehl reports, “The increased limit covers both all NFC payments, including Apple Pay and contactless cards.”
Read more in the full article here.
“The increase also comes after technology giant Apple allowed users of its latest devices to make contactless payments,” BBC News reports.
“Kevin Jenkins, managing director UK and Ireland at Visa Europe, said contactless payments were becoming the ‘new normal,'” The Beeb reports. ‘We’ve seen unprecedented growth in this area, with the number of Visa contactless transactions more than trebling in the past year in the UK,’ he added.”
The Beeb reports, “The increase was first announced in February.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Pay was exceedingly well-timed in both the U.S. and the U.K. to piggyback on such mandated changes (in the U.S. it’s about the responsibility for fraud changing from card issuers to retailers in October causing the spread of NFC terminals, chipped cards, and secure Apple Pay contactless payments).
Now, who else wishes their average supermarket spend would be $38?
I split my time between the U.S. and the U.K. and was very excited when ApplePay was finally turned on in the U.K. I was quickly gobsmacked to find out there was a £20 limit on ApplePay purchases, a limit which effectively makes ApplePay of no use or value to me. Increasing the maximum transaction size to £30 is a step in the right direction but still doesn’t cut it. I don’t think there is a limit in place in the U.S.–at least I’ve never encountered one–and that should be the case in the U.K. Why in the world would anyone want to prevent us from using the most secure form of electronic commerce available?
It’s not a limit on Apple Pay specifically, it’s a limit on contactless transactions, which originally were just by cards. As a way of limiting exposure it’s a decent enough security measure. It would be good if there was a way of having the limit only apply to physical cards.
Apple Pay is one of many contactless payment systems we’ve had in the UK for years. The £20 limit (now increased to £30) has been the standard for many years.
It’s not an Apple Pay issue, it’s a contactless payment issue.
I noticed the ApplePay logo at Greggs the Bakers in Budhill, Glasgow today. Extremely surprised. At least it makes the Yum Yums easier to acquire for those lucky enough to have a modern iPhone (unlike my beloved iPhone 4).
THERE IS NO LIMIT ON PAY TRANSACTIONS.
If the merchant accepts PAY – there is no limit!!!!
PAY Customers can also use it in any location that DOES NOT accept PAY, but has contactless enabled, subject to the £20/£30 limit.
I don’t know why these articles are so misleading!
@JustAnotherGuy – in theory you are right. In practice though however, where you see an Apple Pay sign you won’t necessarrily be able to spend over £30. The reason is that most contactless points require an upgrade to accept more than the standard £30 contactless limit. But merchants are sticking the Apple Pay logo on regular terminals regardless. Go to Apple Store and you can of course spend any amount, I’ve tried it. Also, funny thing, with standard contactless payments you can only use a card once per store in a particular timeframe. But I’ve managed to split a charge across two Apple Pay payments in succession, so a nice workaround for the time being…