Contactless cards

HarryMonkee

rolls99 wrote: »

Good question. Recently had a card replaced and that said it would activate contactless after using it for a chip and pin transaction (i.e. the card had to be used for a non contactless payment). Although with another bank they just arrive and say "You can use your debit card immediately" so whether or not contactless in "on by default" I can't say but it does vary between banks.

Thanks, my bank just says the first time and occasionally after you may be asked to enter your pin. Not exactly clear. Guess I'll have to send the missus to the bank to ask.

20aday

HarryMonkee wrote: »

Thanks, my bank just says the first time and occasionally after you may be asked to enter your pin. Not exactly clear. Guess I'll have to send the missus to the bank to ask.

I'm pretty sure (at one time) it was for every five contactless transactions the sixth one required PIN entry.

It'll probably vary by bank to bank and wouldn't be widely published for obvious reasons.

HarryMonkee

20aday wrote: »

I guess one option (I don't know who you bank with) is to open a secondary basic bank account (i.e. no credit facilities).

These tend to offer "online authorisation only" debit cards. Whilst you wouldn't be able to use it for Pay at Pump transactions etc. they tend not to be contactless.

Sorry I'm dumb, the missus told me to find out but so I can give her full details is that a secondary account with same bank? Do all banks offer this?

rolls99

HarryMonkee wrote: »

Sorry I'm dumb, the missus told me to find out but so I can give her full details is that a secondary account with same bank? Do all banks offer this?

Any "Basic" bank account which most if not all banks offer: i.e. Barclays cash account, NW Cash card account (which will become Flex basic).

You might also want to ask if the bank does a non contactless card anyway;

londonTiger

phishing chip and pin machines are starting to be common now, likely to occur in small outlets where the reader retains the chip into and pin entry to clone the cards.

contactless will be helpful in reducing that. note this happens in small independant shops like newsagents which are typically low value transactions

King_Of_Fools

londonTiger wrote: »

phishing chip and pin machines are starting to be common now, likely to occur in small outlets where the reader retains the chip into and pin entry to clone the cards.

contactless will be helpful in reducing that. note this happens in small independant shops like newsagents which are typically low value transactions

Agreed and contactless will also prevent shoulder surfing where the person behind you watches as you type in your PIN and then picks your pocket for your card. They can then spend thousands on the card that would be very awkward to prove was not you as the transaction would be PIN verified.

For these reasons it can be argued that the more you use contactless the more secure your card is.

reclusive46

Some banks are also testing tokenisation on contactless cards (In addition to Apple Pay), so in the future contactless cards won't even give the card machine your real card number (So if card machine is hacked the number will be useless). It'll also stop anyone from skimming your card via the contactless feature as the contactless token won't work online.

Some banks have already started to implement it (I know Amex have) but it can be difficult to tell without looking at the merchant copy (As the customer copy will still often display the last 4 digits of your actual card number).

Nasqueron

I have a Santander contactless card, the first payment was in a coffee shop and I wasn't asked for a PIN, however, I have been asked once since in a B&M shop near work, never had any issues using it on the rare times I use the tube