Contactless Credit Card Rollout

8th May 2007

MasterCard and Visa have confirmed plans for a national rollout of contactless technology on UK credit cards. Contactless technology will be available for transactions of £10 or under, where customers will simply hold their upgraded card up to a secure reader to make their payment in participating retailers and vending machines.

The rollout of the new technology will start in September 2007 with a launch focused on 7 London postcodes, from the City to Canary Wharf before expanding across London and then followed by a gradual national rollout in 2008.

To use the new contactless technology, a customer needs to hold their credit card up to the contactless card reader. Making a contactless payment will not routinely require a PIN to be entered, but the chip on your credit card will track activity and as a security feature will request a PIN on occasion. Each time a PIN is used it confirms that the cardholder is in possession of their card. The new contactless technology will not affect customers existing protection under the Banking Code for fraud liability.

Industry estimates suggest that over 5 million contactless cards will be issued by the end of 2008, and that they will be accepted in at least 100,000 merchants.