Barclays contactless debit cards

book12

It's official, from now on, new customers and existing customer (who lose their card or needs replacing due to expiry) will get contactless debit cards (excluding customers who have 2in1 cards).

http://www.newsroom.barclays.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=1510&NewsAreaID=2

http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?task=homefreevi2&value=15949&target=_self&site=pfs

ShelfStacker_3

Good on Barclays. All that's needed now is some support from retailers (STILL only ever seen one shop with a contactless facility) and some other banks to get on board.

I like how they preempted the "But I don't WANT this" whingers in their FAQ. Smooth.

olly300

ShelfStacker wrote: »

Good on Barclays. All that's needed now is some support from retailers (STILL only ever seen one shop with a contactless facility) and some other banks to get on board.

I like how they preempted the "But I don't WANT this" whingers in their FAQ. Smooth.

The only shops I've seen with the contactless facility have been chain coffee shops.

ShelfStacker_3

olly300 wrote: »

The only shops I've seen with the contactless facility have been chain coffee shops.

I've not even seen that - that one shop I was talking about was a bleeding chemist! Hell, Caffe Nero don't even take cards at all...

book12

Only places London seems to have the VISA wavepay functionality. Hopefully, it will expand to other places in the UK later this year.

Thinking about it, most people seem to pay in cash when an item is £10 or less.... :S

I wonder how long would it take for other banks to follow Barclays move on contactless cards?

menhim_2

Oh god, I am not sure I like this idea. In theory it sounds a good idea as I try to put all my expenditure on my card, however small as it helps in keeping track of my spending. This system would make things much easier and quicker, but like other posters, I would be extremely worried about the card getting into the wrong hands, not to mention giving even more incentive to muggers !!!!

I would feel much happier if you could pre-load a maximum amount to be used for contactless, much like the oyster card.

EarthBoy

menhim wrote: »

... This system would make things much easier and quicker, but like other posters, I would be extremely worried about the card getting into the wrong hands, not to mention giving even more incentive to muggers !!!!....

It's no less secure than your cash getting into the wrong hands, i.e. someone stealing your wallet.

willo65

Natwest started doing these in London around May 2007 and they have been giving them to increasing numbers of customers since but not sure when it will be a feature on all of their cards.

menhim_2

EarthBoy wrote: »

It's no less secure than your cash getting into the wrong hands, i.e. someone stealing your wallet.

In my case it would be, as I rarely carry more than £10.00 cash anyway for the ocassional newpaper or something. I I am one of those annoying people in front of you in the queue who pays even small amounts by card, preferably credit card, although a card transaction can often be a darn sight quicker than someone trying to count out cash ;-)

Obviously I dont us a card at retailers who charge a surcharge or have minimum spend, but have been known to walk out of a shop if they didnt accept card payments ;-)

Two reasons, I can record my finances to almost the penny, and I get cash back on my credit card ;-) Fortunately I am very disiplined (most of the time) and only spend what I know I can afford. Any amount I spend on my card immediately gets transferred to my "credit card account" so I am earning interest on it until it is needed to pay the card off at the end of the month

Yeah I know, I probably have too much time on my hands LOL.

Extant

menhim wrote: »

Oh god, I am not sure I like this idea. In theory it sounds a good idea as I try to put all my expenditure on my card, however small as it helps in keeping track of my spending. This system would make things much easier and quicker, but like other posters, I would be extremely worried about the card getting into the wrong hands, not to mention giving even more incentive to muggers !!!!

I would feel much happier if you could pre-load a maximum amount to be used for contactless, much like the oyster card.

You have to re-verify your PIN every so many transactions with payWave cards, so it's not like you're at risk of losing much. More to the point, your bank would cover you, so it doesn't matter much anyway.

You can also bet that fraud departments will put something in place to pick up on suspect use - i.e. transactions in close succession and all from a certain kind of merchant, etc.