BANKS and payment firms will be able to set their own contactless card spending limits from today.
The Financial Conduct Authority says its decision to abolish the current £100 cap will help providers respond to inflation, new technology and changing shopping habits.
It also hopes the extra flexibility will encourage banks to improve fraud prevention.
As well as choosing to lower or raise contactless limits, firms can also change how often customers must enter their PIN after repeated spending.
Despite the rule change, lenders including Natwest, Santander, Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide and TSB say they have no immediate plans to raise the limit above £100.
Several digital banks, including Starling and Monzo, are also keeping matters under review.
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Many banks already let customers set a lower contactless limit in their app, or switch off contactless totally.
Barclays says that 94.6 per cent of eligible in-store card payments last year were made via contactless.
UK Finance figures show it accounted for 67 per cent of credit card and 76 per cent of debit card transactions.
The average contactless payment is just under £18.
Higher payments can still be made via mobile wallets, using fingerprint or face checks.
Meanwhile, consumer protections are unchanged, with reimbursements for fraudulent payments.
FESTIVE FLOP AT INPOST
PARCEL locker giant INPOST made a loss over the crucial Christmas period, even as parcel numbers hit record highs.
The Polish firm said UK underlying losses hit £20.1million in the final quarter of 2025, against a £20.3million profit in 2024.
InPost said it capped peak-time deliveries to protect service standards rather than chase short-term profits.
Costs linked to its £106million takeover of YODEL also hit performance.
Despite the setback, its 2025 parcel volumes rose to a record 262.1million, helped by the Yodel deal.
CREDIT BOOST
MILLIONS of Brits will win access to cheaper loans under a shake-up of credit union rules.
The member-owned mutuals cap interest at 3 per cent a month, but locality-based unions are limited to three million members.
This is being raised to 10million per union.
Financial co-operatives will also be allowed to take on students, all members’ relatives, and keep OAPs as full members under reforms meant to boost financial inclusion.
TESCO PAY UP
TESCO is boosting thousands of workers’ pay in a deal with shop staff union Usdaw.
Employees in stores and online fulfilment centres will get £13.28 an hour from March 29.
And its London allowance will rise from £1.21 to £1.27, lifting hourly pay there to £14.55.
Tesco said the move is worth £200million and is above the current rate of inflation.
It says hourly-paid workers have seen pay rise by 43 per cent over the past five years.