Mastercard increases contactless payment limit to $200 to reduce coronavirus risk

To help minimise the spread of coronavirus, Mastercard has announced it will increase the contactless payment limit to $200 without the need to enter a PIN in certain stores.

This takes the limit from $100 to $200 in Australia to enable even more transactions without the need for thousands of customers touching a terminal keypad.

More than 85 per cent of Mastercard transactions over $100 in Australia are contactless.

The move will reduce the need for customers to touch a potentially infectious surface, handle cash or use a pen to complete a transaction.

The increase to $200 will start at Woolworths and Coles supermarkets on April 9 and will roll out to even more retailers in the coming weeks.

“COVID-19 has become part of our new reality. Mastercard is committed to providing people with the safest, most secure way to pay for their purchases, whether that is the physical transaction itself or the security tools protecting their payment,” says Richard Wormald, division president for Mastercard Australasia.

“In times like this every effort, both big and small, matters and can have a positive impact on our society.

“Mastercard will continue to explore new ways to support businesses and consumers as we face this challenge together.”