UK debit and credit cardholders can now spend up to £15 without having to queue at a till, offer signature or enter their pin number.
Credit card giants MasterCard and Barclaycard requested the limit for contactless cards to be raised to £15, up from £10, and the change was approved by banks and other credit card providers.
It is estimated by the end of 2010 one in seven UK cardholders will have a contactless card in their possession, which contains a sensor to pay for items worth small amounts without the need to queue or have to enter a pin or sign for the purchase.
The new contactless card threshold will bring the UK limits closer to those in Europe.
Contactless technology has been relatively slow to take off in the UK but is currently offered in more than 8,000 UK shops and by swiping their contactless card against a sensor in the shop, the amount is automatically deducted from the customer’s bank account or added onto their credit card bill.
In Eastern Asia, the technology has evolved into everyday items like mobile phones and watches, meaning that the customer does not need to constantly carry a card with them.
Anyone who is sent a Barclays Visa Debit card will have the contactless technology built in as standard, and more than 4 million Barclay’s customers already have the new cards.
"Contactless technology is undoubtedly the future of payments and we are seeing it grow hugely in popularity," said Brian Cunnington of Barclays.
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