topic Re: What is the limit for contactless payments? in Credit Cards

What is the limit for contactless payments?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:02:00 GMT

I've used my contactless BCE for $50, and had to insert the card for $130, and it got me wondering what the limit is. Is it CC dependent? Is there a standard limit?

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Shadowfactor — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:05:39 GMT

I’ve ran $750ish through Samsung pay before no problem. That was on the USB Altitude Reserve

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

simplynoir — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:36:22 GMT

I didn’t even realize there was an actual limit to the amount one could make a contactless payment for. First time I’ve heard of such a thing.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 17:15:49 GMT

Contactless was likely meant for those on the go, for Coffee & Danish, or Beer & Hot Dog at the game rtc. Not for buying big ticket elecronics or appliances at Best Buy. Just like there was a signature required on purchases over $50 at one time, now it seems hit or miss. Some card issuers may have set a limit for contactless.

One of my Banks I use has recently set a $250 transaction limit on signature purchases outside of a 200 mile radius. However, PIN transactions remain.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

simplynoir — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 17:14:52 GMT

If I had to guess it’s the merchant putting the limit on contactless payments than the issuer. I find it confusing regardless because contactless is just a method of paying just like with the chip and swiping the card. To impose a limit is pointless to me.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

K-in-Boston — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 17:24:29 GMT

+1 I agree it's likely either the merchant's policy, setup in the point of sale system, or setup on the EMV end with the card processor. For card-present transactions, all four networks (V/M/D/Amex) have eliminated signature requirements for any amount, but due to different setups and merchant policies we're still signing in most places.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 17:48:19 GMT

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Just got the time to chat with Amex and ask them. They confirmed you all are correct. There is no limit on contactless transactions. I'm guessing, like you said, that my local supermarket or their processor is limiting it then.

I guess I just assumed that since the UK has limits in place (according to articles I've read it was £30 per transaction in early 2018), there would be the same policy in the US.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

imaximous — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 17:57:17 GMT

In a recent trip to France, my Samsung Pay was declining at a lot of places. Finally, a guy at a store told me that NFC or contactless was limited to something silly like 20 or 30 Euro everywhere in France. At a few places, sometimes I'd get lucky if I placed the phone next to the magnetic reader to try to use Samsung's MST instead of NFC. That seemed to be the only way that I could make purchases for higher amounts or at places where NFC wasn't available, so the terminal would use MST only. Then I read that several countries in Europe have small limits on contactless transactions. Apple Pay was pretty much worthless there.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 18:35:49 GMT

I believe it used to be something like $50 when they attempted to roll it out the first time. I'm not sure having no limit now is particularly a good move considering how much more wary of it Americans seem to be compared to people elsewhere, but we'll see.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 18:49:07 GMT

I've done business transactions for high 4 figures via Samsung Pay. Don't believe there is a limit unless one imposed by the retailer.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 18:59:06 GMT

Is samsung pay, or any of the mobile wallets, treated the same by the CC companies and processors as a payment initiated directly from a contactless enabled card?

tmiw, yeah there does seem to be some reluctance to adopt it here in the US, but man is it convenient. I don't mind the no limit aspect personally. Now if I could figure out why my local grocery store is limiting it.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 19:20:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I've done business transactions for high 4 figures via Samsung Pay. Don't believe there is a limit unless one imposed by the retailer.

Mobile wallets generally aren't subject to the same limits as contactless cards elsewhere, though, so I'm not sure that's indicative of anything. That said, considering that there's usually no PIN when inserting US issued cards, I doubt there's any value in imposing a hard limit on contactless use.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 19:35:15 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Is samsung pay, or any of the mobile wallets, treated the same by the CC companies and processors as a payment initiated directly from a contactless enabled card?

tmiw, yeah there does seem to be some reluctance to adopt it here in the US, but man is it convenient. I don't mind the no limit aspect personally. Now if I could figure out why my local grocery store is limiting it.

Contactless cards actually tend to be limited to around $50 without a signature, and somewhere around $100 with one.

Mobile wallets have authentication factors like fingerprint, PIN, or Face ID so they don’t tend to be limited as much.

There is actually a case to be made that mobile wallets are more secure than the chip on the card itself and certainly more than the strip, especially in a world of credit card skimmers.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Shadowfactor — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 20:10:30 GMT

I just completed a true contactless transaction for $570 at NTB.
I did have to sign

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 20:32:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Contactless cards actually tend to be limited to around $50 without a signature, and somewhere around $100 with one.

I contacted both Amex and Capital One earlier to ask about this. Both said that they have no limits on contactless transactions so long as they do not exceed my available credit. Is this something at the merchant/processor level as others have mentioned?

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

simplynoir — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 20:43:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Contactless cards actually tend to be limited to around $50 without a signature, and somewhere around $100 with one.

I contacted both Amex and Capital One earlier to ask about this. Both said that they have no limits on contactless transactions so long as they do not exceed my available credit. Is this something at the merchant/processor level as others have mentioned?

More than likely yes. I'm pretty sure the banks just see it as a method of payment just like if you were going to swipe or insert the card into the PoS machine. There's no reason for them to limit how much you can pay as long as you have the credit available to make the purchase.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Andypanda — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 00:10:24 GMT

I made a prcgase for close to $900 with Apple Pay at Costco.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 22:31:44 GMT

Just a DP. Tried google pay with Amex delta gold at CVS, around $101.4. Did not go through.

I was requested to give last 4 digit of credit card, but the POS device keep claiming the number provided was wrong (which is false).

Samsung pay is definitely different, it can mimic credit card magnet stripes, which is basically same as swiping the card.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

imaximous — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 23:05:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Just a DP. Tried google pay with Amex delta gold at CVS, around $101.4. Did not go through.

I was requested to give last 4 digit of credit card, but the POS device keep claiming the number provided was wrong (which is false).

Samsung pay is definitely different, it can mimic credit card magnet stripes, which is basically same as swiping the card.

What last 4 digits did you give them? The ones on your actual card or virtual card?

The only reason why I think you'd get declined is if you used the last 4 numbers on your physical card.

Re: What is the limit for contactless payments?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 23:17:34 GMT

Aha, you are correct! I will try again tomorrow with virtual card number and see if that works.