Contactless card limit rises from £30 to £45 today to help stop coronavirus spreading

SHOPPERS will be able to make contactless card payments of up to £45 per transaction from today.

The limit is increasing by £15, from £30, to help stop coronavirus spreading.

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It will mean more payments can be made without handling cash. Not all shops will be ready immediately.

A number of companies have started only accepting contactless payments from shoppers.

This is to reduce the need for physical contact by shoppers entering their pin numbers on card machines.

The changes were confirmed today by the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Contactless payments were first introduced in 2007 and at the time shoppers were allowed to spend £10 in one transaction.

In September 2015 the limit increased to £30 and from next week this will rise to £45.

Lots of retailers have now shut their branches temporarily because of the coronavirus outbreak.

They remain open online but shoppers won’t be able to go into branches of shops including; John Lewis, Ikea, and Debenhams.

We have a full list of the companies already shut because of the virus.