Skip to main content of page

Using contactless abroad

How to pay by contactless using your Nationwide debit or credit card when travelling abroad. And what fees to expect.

Where you can use contactless

You can use your contactless debit or credit card to make payments when you're travelling abroad anywhere retailers display the contactless symbol and the Visa logo.

You can also use your digital wallet, such as Google Pay, Apple Pay or Samsung Pay, to make contactless payments anywhere you see their logos.

Contactless payment limits abroad

Debit cards

Each country sets its own contactless limits for debit cards. The maximum is usually £45 per transaction, but it can be more than £100.

Credit cards

The maximum you can pay using contactless on your credit card is £100 per transaction. There is no minimum amount. This is the same wherever you are in the world.

When you’ll need to use Chip and PIN

You’ll need to use Chip and PIN when the transaction is outside a country’s contactless limits.

We’ll also ask you to use Chip and PIN after you’ve made a certain amount of contactless payments. This is to make sure it’s still you using your card.

Changing your contactless settings

We want our customers to be in control of how they use their Nationwide card abroad. That’s why you can:

  • order a debit or credit card with contactless disabled
  • turn off and on contactless for debit cards (including debit cards you've added to digital wallet apps) using our app
  • adjust your contactless limit using our app.

Note:

You can’t turn contactless on or off, or change the contactless limit, for our credit cards. This can only be done with debit cards and digital wallet payments.

How to manage your contactless settings 

It’s easy to turn contactless on or off or set your own contactless limit. You just need to:

  1. Log in to our app.
  2. Select Manage Cards.
  3. Select Contactless.
  4. Change your settings.

In some cases, your contactless payments may still go through if the merchant doesn’t check with us first. For example, on a plane.

If you want to turn contactless back on or remove the contactless limit when you’re back home, you can do this in our app too.

Contactless limits and country limits

If you reduce your contactless limit to less than the limit of the country you’re in, your new limit will apply. For example, if you set your limit to £30 in a country with a limit of £45, your contactless limit will be £30.

If you reduce your contactless limit to more than the limit of the country you’re in, the country’s limit will apply. For example, if you set your limit to £60 in a country with a limit of £45, your contactless limit will be £45.

Fees for contactless payments

Check before you go to see what you’ll have to pay. Different cards will have different fees for making payments abroad.

Fees for using your card abroad

Loading...