A spending limit is the maximum you can spend during a specific time period, either rolling or calendar. These limits are enforced to ensure the financial security of your payment account.
Spending limits serve the following purposes:
| Purpose | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Fraud prevention | Companies set limits to reduce the risk of fraud. |
| Financial protection |
Both individual and company cardholders set limits to protect funds.
|
| Institutional security | Financial institutions might enforce limits to protect themselves from liability. |
Rolling vs. calendar periods
Spending limits are calculated over either a rolling or a calendar period.
- A rolling period tracks your spending over a moving window of time, such as the last 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days. This window starts from your first transaction.
- How it works: If you have a €500 limit over 24 hours and spend €500 at 2:00 PM today, you can't spend again until 2:00 PM tomorrow.
-
Calendar periods reset at a fixed date and time, regardless of when you made your first purchase, such as the 1st of every month or every Monday at a specific hour.
- How it works: If you have a €5,000 monthly limit that resets on the 1st of the month, and you spend your entire budget by the 15th, you must wait until the 1st of the next month to spend again. Your limit automatically resets to its maximum value at the scheduled time.
Limits set by account providers
Your payment account provider may set specific spending limits based on whether you have an individual or a company account.
Your card will work only if you have enough money in your account. Even if your spending limit is set high, like €1,500, you still need enough funds in your balance to complete a transaction and avoid a decline.
Cards with an all-time limit enable a specific spending limit to be used over the lifetime of the card. After this spending limit is reached, the card becomes invalid, and you can no longer use it.
Please check your specific spending limits in your banking app, or reach out to your Swan partner support team.
Limits set by account holders
As an account holder or an account member with permission to manage cards, you can adjust spending limits over varying periods: 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days. These limits can be set as rolling or calendar periods.
You can lower spending limits when creating cards for yourself or other account members. The spending limit imposed per payment account is shared collectively; however, the spending cap can be adjusted per cardholder.
Keep your limits within your provider's preset spending limits to avoid transaction rejections.
Consider the following examples:
Example 1: Company cardholder transaction with a €10,000 spending limit over a 30-day period
Each company cardholder can spend up to €10,000 within a 30-day period.
With five cardholders, each with one card, the company’s total spending potential is €50,000 per month.
Example 2: Company cardholder ATM withdrawal with a €3,000 spending limit over a 30-day period
- If you have two cards, you can withdraw a total of €3,000 within a month, shared between both cards.
Contactless card payment limits
To protect you from fraud, your physical card has limits on how much you can spend using contactless payments.
These are the contactless payment limits for your physical card:
| Limit type | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Single payment limit | €50 | Maximum amount for one contactless payment without using a PIN. |
| Cumulative amount limit | €150 | Maximum total amount spent in consecutive contactless transactions before a PIN is required. |
Digital wallet payments (like Apple Pay or Google Pay) bypass these limits because they use Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) through a password or biometrics. These payments don't count toward physical card contactless limits.
Resetting your contactless payment limit
To reset the cumulative spending (€150) limits, you must insert your physical card into a payment terminal and enter your PIN.
For more guidance on spending limits, see the guides on checking and adjusting your spending limits within your banking app. If you have further questions, submit a request to Swan Support.