Why was my contactless payment declined?

Some of the most common reasons for contactless payments to be declined to pertain to the spending limits of contactless or the limits of the prepaid card.

Because no signature or PIN verification is typically required, contactless purchases are typically limited to a set maximum amount per transaction, known as a "floor limit". The floor limits may vary by country or by the merchant. In the UK it's typically £30 though some merchants may only allow £20. 

Contactless cards need to be authorised occasionally by using chip and pin or by using them in an ATM.  

You can do a maximum of 5 consecutive Contactless transactions, when you reach this limit you will need to use chip and pin to reset the counter. This limit is set forth by The Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2). You can find more information by visiting https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-finalises-revised-psd2-requirements

Remember that, once your card's activated, you'll need to use it first with Chip and PIN to activate contactless payments.

Alternatively, You may have reached our prepaid card limit of Max 15 Transactions per day.  Please note you can find these limits as part of our fees and limits which can be found here.




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