Disabling contactless payment on credit/debit cards

stator

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

If you can't remember what you spent your money on then the problem is not with your contactless card.

It's not a question about what you spend your money on. In a supermarket you spend your money on groceries. Some of us do lots of small transactions rather than one huge weekly shop. Remembering exactly which days you went to exactly which supermarket is not pratical, plus the transaction dates don't match the actual days half the time anyway.

noh

stator wrote: »

It's not a question about what you spend your money on. In a supermarket you spend your money on groceries. Some of us do lots of small transactions rather than one huge weekly shop. Remembering exactly which days you went to exactly which supermarket is not pratical, plus the transaction dates don't match the actual days half the time anyway.

If your memory really is that bad you could use those little paper things called receipts to remind you of your purchases.

chattychappy

I used contactless in Taiwan and Hong Kong before it became available in the UK. I haven't had a problem at all, except perhaps travelling in London where I just have to be careful which card I'm using on public transport. (Eg "touching in" on a pad with one card and "touching out" with another can result in some awful charges.)

In my view, the risk is with chip'n'pin. Entering a PIN is taken as pretty solid evidence of cardholder authority. Difficult to argue. Contactless reduces the number of times I have to enter a PIN, so reduces the chance of a PIN being seen and being used on a cloned card and/or a card being stolen and the PIN being used.

marleyboy

chattychappy wrote: »

In my view, the risk is with chip'n'pin. Entering a PIN is taken as pretty solid evidence of cardholder authority. Difficult to argue. Contactless reduces the number of times I have to enter a PIN, so reduces the chance of a PIN being seen and being used on a cloned card and/or a card being stolen and the PIN being used.

Ironically, it doesn't seem so long ago when they introduced Chip&Pin, claiming it to be fool proof and completely risk free. That didn't take long to crack either.

gwapenut

I don't really see what the problem is that people here have with the OP's reasoning. If he/she wishes not to anally check every single receipt versus just checking items over a certain threshold or items from an unknown retailer, then that is up to them and how they wish to balance their time/money.

Plenty of organisations don't even give a receipt unless specifically asked - eg McDonalds and now some rail ticket vending machines.

For my barclaycard it is easy - all contactless transactions are flagged with an icon and I take great care to review those, and any other larger value items or those from an unknown retailer.

hasdogs

techno79 wrote: »

The antenna is normally a wire loop that starts at the chip and pin chip

If you hold the card over a very bright light (try the flash LED on your phone/tablet) on some cards you can see the antenna. On the cards I have the antenna is on the same side as the mag stripe. A tiny cut with a craft knife is all you need to break the antenna loop and disable the contactless function.

A phone with NFC and some app should be able to read details from the card and so confirm it is disabled. Being an electronics nerd I have a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_dip_oscillator which detects and roughly locates the antenna coil.

IMO the most likely problem with contactless is inadvertently paying for someone else and not knowing when you have been mis-charged. It is an invisible wallet serviced by an invisible hand you have no idea what hand took what when until you get your next statement or in a few days when the transaction will show online if you can be bothered to check.

The main reason I won't carry one is my refusal to carry an RFID tag allowing anyone to identify and track me the same as tags riveted to the ear allow farmers to identify and track their sheep.

[Deleted User]

hasdogs wrote: »

The main reason I won't carry one is my refusal to carry an RFID tag allowing anyone to identify and track me the same as tags riveted to the ear allow farmers to identify and track their sheep.

RFID proof wallet/pouch?

BTW. Do you have a mobile phone?

gwapenut

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

BTW. Do you have a mobile phone?

Good point!

jonesMUFCforever

stator wrote: »

It's not a question about what you spend your money on. In a supermarket you spend your money on groceries. Some of us do lots of small transactions rather than one huge weekly shop. Remembering exactly which days you went to exactly which supermarket is not pratical, plus the transaction dates don't match the actual days half the time anyway.

There are only 7 days in a week - so the most times you would need to remember is 7 transactions unless you multi shop every day.
Get yourself online with internet banking and download the app on your phone. Most banks these days will let you see pending transactions as well as actual ones.

stclair

The contactless amount is increasing to £30.00 from 1st September :-)