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Contactless

i know contactless is for small purchases like coffee , mcdonalds etc...

But can you use contactless for large purchases such as weekly shop and then enter the pin , instead of actually putting your card in the mahine ?

Hope that mdae sense :cool:
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Comments

  • Buzby
    Buzby Posts: 8,275 Forumite
    Yes, it simply requests the PIN, as normal.
  • As long as the transaction is under £20 AND the retailer has a contactless terminal AND you have a contactless card, then yes you can
  • chattychappy
    chattychappy Posts: 7,302 Forumite
    As long as the transaction is under £20 AND the retailer has a contactless terminal AND you have a contactless card, then yes you can

    This doesn't answer the question!
  • SCO
    SCO Posts: 729 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    No.

    Contactless is for transactions under £15, you will have to put your card in the machine for amounts over this.

    Thats if the staff even know what your on about when you ask them if you can use contactless.
  • aleph_0
    aleph_0 Posts: 539 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    lewis92 wrote: »
    i know contactless is for small purchases like coffee , mcdonalds etc...

    But can you use contactless for large purchases such as weekly shop and then enter the pin , instead of actually putting your card in the mahine ?

    Hope that mdae sense :cool:

    To clarify things, leicsmarkyr's answer is accurate. Contactless payments can be made with contactless cards if the retailer has a contactless terminal, and the transaction is less than £20. There is no restriction on what type of goods can be bought.

    The limit was previously £15, hence SCO's answer having a different amount.

    If you're using a pin for a transaction above this amount, the card does need to be placed into the machine. The way Chip-and-Pin works is that the card locally verifies whether the PIN is correct, hence the card needs to be placed in the machine (the contactless part of the card can't verify PINs).
  • reclusive46
    reclusive46 Posts: 2,698 Forumite
    The thing that confuses me is when using it in the rest of Europe. They say you spend up to £20 in the foreign currency but since in Europe the technology is offline, I don't get how it can check how many Euros are £20.
  • callum9999
    callum9999 Posts: 4,439 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    The thing that confuses me is when using it in the rest of Europe. They say you spend up to £20 in the foreign currency but since in Europe the technology is offline, I don't get how it can check how many Euros are £20.

    Maybe the card has the limit built-in? I don't see how else they could stop it being used in places that allow more than £20 worth without PIN that are offline?
  • reclusive46
    reclusive46 Posts: 2,698 Forumite
    callum9999 wrote: »
    Maybe the card has the limit built-in? I don't see how else they could stop it being used in places that allow more than £20 worth without PIN that are offline?

    I was always under the impression it was the terminal that had the limit programmed into it. Ie. UK terminals will not show the first light if it is over £20. I guess its possible they can set limits for each country based on the country issue code but that would be a very long winded way of doing things and the exchange rate is always changing.
  • Plxply
    Plxply Posts: 594 Forumite
    I was always under the impression it was the terminal that had the limit programmed into it. Ie. UK terminals will not show the first light if it is over £20. I guess its possible they can set limits for each country based on the country issue code but that would be a very long winded way of doing things and the exchange rate is always changing.

    From what I've read from the EMV Contactless books so far (Yes I'm that boring). UK Cards actually emulate chip and PIN over the contactless interface, they just skip the PIN part of the process. So the terminal can go online to the issuer to get approval, which I imagine might be compulsory for foreign contactless transactions.
  • reclusive46
    reclusive46 Posts: 2,698 Forumite
    Plxply wrote: »
    From what I've read from the EMV Contactless books so far (Yes I'm that boring). UK Cards actually emulate chip and PIN over the contactless interface, they just skip the PIN part of the process. So the terminal can go online to the issuer to get approval, which I imagine might be compulsory for foreign contactless transactions.

    That would make since. The seem reason annoys me why they can't get people with bad credit contactless on their cards. Contactless easily supports online authorisation. Prepaid cards even have contactless.
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