Contactless payments increased to 50 euros to reduce contact with pin machine

The risk of infection with coronavirus does not come only from people, but also through contact with infected surfaces — like credit card machines. 

In order to curb the risk of infection, the Dutch Payments Association has implemented a system change that now allows customers to pay up to 50 euros using contactless technology, reports RTL Nieuws.

Vanaf deze week aan de kassa per #betaling tot en met 50 euro zónder pincode contactloos afrekenen, met een bankpas, smartphone of wearable https://t.co/DYnzF9TI8L #corona #TweetvdDag pic.twitter.com/TIQkvuPjhU

— NVB (@bankensector) March 24, 2020

How does the new system work?

Customers do not need to do anything to implement these changes, as they have occurred automatically in around 380,000 payment terminals. Some of them have already been updated in places like supermarkets, with more places to follow by the end of the week.

This is great news because given how many people are touching pin machines the odds for infection is quite high, both for the customer paying and the employee handling the machine.

Voor de verhoging van de limieten voor contactloos betalen zonder pincode hoeven consumenten én winkeliers zelf helemaal niets te doen! Banken gaan hierover dus ook geen ongevraagde berichten sturen of klanten bellen. Laat je niet misleiden door oplichters met valse berichten!

— Betaalvereniging (@NLbetalen) March 24, 2020

There’s also been an increase in the cumulative limit. The cumulative limit refers to how many times you can pay contactless before a PIN is requested. It is now 100 euros, from the previous limit of 50 euros.

Once the crisis is over, the limit will go down again. A spokesperson from the Dutch Payments Association has confirmed that customers cannot manually bring down the sum.

Options for those who do not want a higher limit

The spokesperson has said that there are options for those who are not satisfied with these new measures. For example, they can deactivate contactless completely and have to enter their PIN every time. Why anyone would want to wish exposure is a different story altogether.

Pictured above: social distancing done right, except that they should be working from home

Alternatively, you can also set a daily limit to your debit card payments, or you can ask for a card from ABN AMRO which does not have contactless payment on it. Or better yet, you can just use contactless and avoid the risk of infection!

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Feature Image: energepic.com/Pexels