Nationwide contactless cards

Robin9

alanq wrote: »

Was that for a Flex Account or FlexDirect / FlexPlus account?

Flex Account -

moshoodo1

Got all my login details today and everything is sorted.

Ian182

Herbalus wrote: »

I don't really get the hype if I'm honest. It's not that much faster than putting 4 numbers in, and I always spend few seconds time I've saved as extra time waiting for the coffee or packing bags in M&S. Plus, some people have had issues (not putting the card in the right place on the machine, card reader saying 'declined' but the Co-op assistant saying it's gone through and letting you walk out the shop).

But on occasion it does make people feel special. A little wizardry never hurt anyone, and it can make you feel like Harry Potter. If you want, you can whisper 'Payaramious' when you use it for the first time. Not so loud so that Muggles can hear, mind.

Haha, it's not about making me feel special.

I probably use my debit card 3-4 times a day during the week. If we say 3 times per weekday, that's 15 times a week, 780 times a year. If chip and pin takes 30 seconds each time (to put card in machine, wait for it to load, enter pin, wait for it to process, etc.) that's 390 minutes a year I waste on chip and pin. That's 6.5 hours a year that contactless will save me.

It's not about hype, it's not about pretending to be Harry Potter, it's about saving me valuable time which over the course of the year, adds up significantly.

Herbalus

Ian182 wrote: »

I probably use my debit card 3-4 times a day during the week. If we say 3 times per weekday, that's 15 times a week, 780 times a year. If chip and pin takes 30 seconds each time (to put card in machine, wait for it to load, enter pin, wait for it to process, etc.) that's 390 minutes a year I waste on chip and pin. That's 6.5 hours a year that contactless will save me.

It's not about hype, it's not about pretending to be Harry Potter, it's about saving me valuable time which over the course of the year, adds up significantly.

Haha, I can see you have some spare time on your hands. So do I, so:

I just removed a card from my wallet, inserted it into a card reader, entered four numbers, and replaced the card within 8 seconds. I wasn't hurrying particularly either. Assuming the machine has to do the same amount of thinking for contactless and C&P transactions, and considering that removing and replacing the card takes place in both, I don't think there's a 30 second difference between the two.

If I'm generous, and say there's a 10 second difference, then that works out to less than 0.15% of your day. Hence my conclusion that, while I use contactless and like it, I wouldn't go out of my way to get one.

fiendishlyclever

I love contactless - my Cap1 cashback CC has it and it makes life easier when you are in a rush - especially when there is a queue behind you (and you don't have to put your shopping down to cover your pin etc).

The downside is when you've spent ages wiping your card all over the terminal, it doesn't work, the cashier is clueless and then you put your card in the terminal and enter your pin number (as happened to me in a shop recently)

I'll be contacting Nationwide for a replacement as my Flexplus card doesn't have much life left in it anyway

username

fiendishlyclever wrote: »

The downside is when you've spent ages wiping your card all over the terminal, it doesn't work, the cashier is clueless and then you put your card in the terminal and enter your pin number (as happened to me in a shop recently)

I have found that certain pinpads like this one()you need to hover the card above the terminal, rather than touching the card against it for it to register.

The biggest benefit I have found with contactless is where they have a separate stand alone card machine that needs to dial out to the merchant provider, either to a phoneline or over the internet.

A C&P transaction takes far longer, compared to contactless where it takes a number of seconds as all authorisation is done 'offline' and processed later.

Training/knowledge is rubbish in some places and staff sometimes don't know that contactless exists, they are probably used to shoving the card in and that's it. Although you can say the same for some customers too, with people just shoving the card in and pin etc when they could have used contactless!

TheEffect

username wrote: »

A C&P transaction takes far longer, compared to contactless where it takes a number of seconds as all authorisation is done 'offline' and processed later.

While I'm not sure about Nationwide, not all contactless card authorisations are done 'offline'. My contactless Barclays debit card requires all contactless transactions to be done 'online'. If there's no connection, it'll decline. The only exception is when used on TfL.

dr_adidas01

TheEffect wrote: »

While I'm not sure about Nationwide, not all contactless card authorisations are done 'offline'. My contactless Barclays debit card requires all contactless transactions to be done 'online'. If there's no connection, it'll decline. The only exception is when used on TfL.

Barclays are one of the few banks that do offline and online contactless cards.

I'm guessing you have a card that starts 4658? Which is called a connect electronic card, which means it dials home to check funds are available if there not then it declines the transaction.

TheEffect

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

Barclays are one of the few banks that do offline and online contactless cards.

I'm guessing you have a card that starts 4658? Which is called a connect electronic card, which means it dials home to check funds are available if there not then it declines the transaction.

Yup. I'd imagine they gave me an 'online' card as I was unemployed when I applied for the bank account. I have to go into a branch and fill out a form, and be credit checked, for the full debit card apparently.

HSBC is my main bank, and they've given me a full contactless debit card, so I just use that. Unfortunately my HSBC credit card isn't contactless. Not sure if that's because they don't offer it, or I'm not eligible for it.

stclair

Robin9 wrote: »

Flex Account -

I recieved my replacement Flex Account debit card today and it was contactless.

It's also now advertised as a feature of the account;

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/current-accounts/flexaccount/features-and-benefits