First Direct Conactless Cards

samwsmith1

Got my statement from First Direct this morning with a notice of variation for the terms and conditions, and summary point 3 says that from the 1st of December First Direct will be issuing contactless Debit Cards.

Just thought that some others might be interested to know if they haven't got there statement yet.

Helix

This is good news, I sent them a Secure Message about it last month and they said they had no plans to introduce contactless cards.

samwsmith1

I've just sent them a secure message asking them if they plan to introduce contactless credit cards as well as debit cards.

I haven't found anywhere to use contactless yet, but for some reason I want a contactless card!

MoneySaverLog

Why do we need contactless, it's just a gimmick.

I'd be well unhappy if I missplaced my card and before realising it someone had picked it up and used it at their local starbucks. No pin required.

Empty_pockets

That accept it in McD's.

pmduk

Empty_pockets wrote: »

That accept it in McD's.

I think that applies in only a few branches

JuicyJesus

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Why do we need contactless, it's just a gimmick.

I'd be well unhappy if I missplaced my card and before realising it someone had picked it up and used it at their local starbucks. No pin required.

Your bank would be obliged to refund you if the purchases weren't PIN authorised. In any event, the maximum you'd be hit for is about 30 quid before the card started asking for a PIN (which happens every so often with contactless).

Helix

Where I work all the cafes take contactless payments, they have Chip and PIN too but the machines are so slow, I always feel embarrassed whenever I have to use my card as I hold the rest of the queue up. I have seen people use the contactless cards and it only takes seconds.

Gromitt

Whenever someone comes up with the idea of contactless, I think about the news stories where people could read all the details of your passport by just brushing up against you.

People can easily see which pocket it seems like your wallet is in, so how easy is it to just read it and copy the details to another card?

For me, I like the added security of a pin code, but last time I asked the bank, they didn't do cards which did not have the contactless stuff in them, so the card now sits in the safe at home, and never gets used.

Helix

Gromitt wrote: »

Whenever someone comes up with the idea of contactless, I think about the news stories where people could read all the details of your passport by just brushing up against you.

People can easily see which pocket it seems like your wallet is in, so how easy is it to just read it and copy the details to another card?

For me, I like the added security of a pin code, but last time I asked the bank, they didn't do cards which did not have the contactless stuff in them, so the card now sits in the safe at home, and never gets used.

If you are really that worried about it you can buy special wallets that block the cards from being read whilst inside the wallet.

mrmajika

I bank with FD and would be happy for this to be introduced. I've read before that they've stated that there are no definate plans to introduce them as yet. It could be that the change in the t&c's is to allow there to be scope for them to be introduced at some future point, rather than a definite roll out come December.