Online PIN and contactless limit

[samu]

Hi @Revolut team and community.

I’m a bit puzzled by the behavior of my Revolut cards when it comes to PIN and the contactless limits and wanted to understand it better. I’m a customer located in the UE in a country where online PIN is available. Main account in € with sub-accounts in other currencies.

• When I make a contactless payment above €50, the POS requests the PIN which is validated online upon entry. The contactless limits resets every time I authenticate in the POS entering the PIN.
• If I make multiple transactions under the limit, the PSD2 requires issuers to implement some controles, either a consecutive transaction counter (5 transactions) or a cumulative transaction amount of €150 before PIN is requested to cardholders.

What I’m finding is that single payments above the limit (€50) require the PIN. I enter it and transactions are approved, everything works.
If I make multiple payments under €150 (e.g. 49, 49, 49 and 10), I’m never asked for the PIN but the last payment (€10) gets declined instead of requesting the PIN. The revolut app notifies me that I’ve reached the contactless limit, giving me two options:

• Reset it from the app
• Do a Chip & PIN transaction

Why isn’t the POS requesting the PIN in that 4th transaction? Why isn’t it possible to reset the contactless limit entering the PIN online without dipping the card or using the app?

The behavior is the same for both Mastercard and Visa cards.

Thank you!

[Frank]

Without getting into too much technical details: it’s not a bug, you’re describing the correct behaviour based on how Revolut implemented this.

Here’s some background: limit(s) should work reliably with various POS terminal configurations, wordwide. Some counters can be reset wirelessly, for other configurations and settings, the terminal needs contact to the chip to write data.

[glesga]

Is this correct? When I have reached my contactless limit and try another contactless transaction anyway, the POS at most retailers (actually all, I can’t recall an exception), prompts me to insert the card instead and enter my pin. It’s not a hard decline, the till is just telling me to use the card another way. That’s how my Revolut and all other cards work. Does this happen at random retailers or is it always the same?

[Frank]

It depends. Some cards/terminals ask for a PIN but won’t reset the limit that way. Some cards/terminals ask to dip the card into the reader instead and reset the limit. In my experience, different regions make noticeable differences, UK vs. France, for example.

[Eudes]

Using Apple / Google Pay should be immune the contactless limit

[samu]

Correct, it’s not a problem with Digital Wallets but rather understanding how Revolut implemented the reset to the contactless limits using the plastic.

[samu]

Thanks for your response, Frank. That’s what I supposed but I still struggle to understand why transactions above the CVM limit require online PIN and effectively reset the contactless limit, and those below the CVM that accumulate and eventually trigger the contactless limit, dont (especially the one that triggers it).

It totally sounds fine that Revolut is asking customers to reset the limit via Chip&PIN or through the app but why not doing through the contactless interface when they can (and when they’re already doing it for transactions above the limit)? I just don’t get it.

Would be great to get insights from someone working at Revolut but anyway, thanks for confirming my suspicions!

Cheers!

[Frank]

There are various ways to implement this, and Revolut chose one. Every option has specific advantages and disadvantages. And not all aspects are in Revolut‘s control, because the programming of the terminals varies. I have no clue why they went for the current solution, but it’s an option where Revolut can provide a consistent UX in many regions, which streamlines support, for example.