Contactless cards are becoming more powerful than ever before as their limit gets pushed even higher. Now you can tap-to-pay up to £30 using your contactless card.

The contactless card was first introduced back in 2007 where the limit was £10. This jumped up to its current level of £20 where it has sat for sometime as contactless cards have grown in popularity. In 2013 there was £653 million of payments while last year there were £2.32 billion.

While more pubs and restaurants are now accepting the cards it's the introduction of contactless payments in place of Oyster cards on London's Underground, buses and more that has really pushed up payment amounts. Since September 41 million people have used contactless on a London bus or tube.

The worry has always been that the card could be stolen and used to pay without the need to sign or use a PIN. This is one reason the limit was set in the first place and kept low. Despite this fear the limit has risen to £30 per transaction following figures from Barclays that showed 30 per cent of all transactions under £20 were made using contactless cards.

Contactless payment systems are planned for use in more public transport including Manchester, in the near future.

Will tap-to-pay ever offer unlimited payments? We imagine it's an insurance issue that could be helped once tap to pay via mobile phones with fingerprint security is more readily available. Apple Pay will likely make a big difference here.

READ: Over 375,000 passengers use contactless payments on London Tube in a week