Tsb contactless paying energy bill

Arrowdc8

Has anyone any idea why my tsb contactless card won't work at the post office to pay my sse energy bill.

Kim_13

Have you made a chip and pin transaction with the card first?

By the sounds of things, TSB contactless does fail more times than contactless on other cards.

Yorkshire_Pud

Arrowdc8 wrote: »

Has anyone any idea why my tsb contactless card won't work at the post office to pay my sse energy bill.

I tried with council tax. Asks to insert card.

Seems utilities, C.Tax Government payments all reject contactless at the terminal. Happy to be proved wrong though if anyone manages it.

agrinnall

How much is the bill? Is it above the limit for contactless payments (no idea what this is as I don't use it, but I've seen £20 and £30 mentioned)?

Kim_13

agrinnall wrote: »

How much is the bill? Is it above the limit for contactless payments (no idea what this is as I don't use it, but I've seen £20 and £30 mentioned)?

£30 is the new limit; it was £20 until late last year. The limit doesn't change automatically and the retailer has to adjust their system/terminals to the new limit. Front line CS advisors may not know for certain whether the organisation has done so.

Anthorn

As I posted in a different thread, I've been keeping a diary on TSB contactless debit card payments. Results so far are more likely to require PIN at Tesco for amounts over £10 and the number of contactless payments before the PIN is required varies and the average across 17 transactions is 6. Contactless fails more often with the TSB contactless debit card than with MBNA and Lloyds contactless credit cards but the reason is not clear.

iris

When I first used my TSB contactless card I needed to enter my pin number, after that I was able to use my contactless card without any problem. However, if I split my shopping into say 2 lots under £30, I am only able to use my contactless card for the first transaction and have to use my pin for the second transaction, apparently this is for 'safety' reasons. However, if I leave 10 minutes between transactions I am able to use my card contactless.

Yorkshire_Pud

You can't pay contactless at the Post Office for Utilities, Council Tax, Road Tax etc. it won't allow and asks you to 'Insert Card'.

Doesn't matter if the amount is under £30, you've reset the card etc etc, it WON'T be accepted for contactless.

agrinnall

Yorkshire_Pud wrote: »

You can't pay contactless at the Post Office for Utilities, Council Tax, Road Tax etc. it won't allow and asks you to 'Insert Card'.

Doesn't matter if the amount is under £30, you've reset the card etc etc, it WON'T be accepted for contactless.

Can you post a link showing where the Post Office acknowledge this to be the case? Or are you just generalising your own experience to make it apply in all cases?

Arrowdc8

Thanks for all your replies; looks like Yorkshire pud is right as I've met all the other criteria; used card at aldi, wetherspoons etc no prob; Bill is £19. I'll try a BT one today see if that works...

HornetSaver

iris wrote: »

When I first used my TSB contactless card I needed to enter my pin number, after that I was able to use my contactless card without any problem. However, if I split my shopping into say 2 lots under £30, I am only able to use my contactless card for the first transaction and have to use my pin for the second transaction, apparently this is for 'safety' reasons. However, if I leave 10 minutes between transactions I am able to use my card contactless.

Hate to be pedantic, but 'safety' reasons really do mean safety reasons.

The one very obvious flaw with contactless is the potential ability for a thief to obtain a large amount of money in a small amount of time, hence the initially very low limits rising gradually and time limits being in place to strike a balance between convenience for the legitimate cardholder and limiting losses from cards that fall into the wrong hands.

Though I don't understand why bill payments under £30 can't be paid for via contactless. Surely those transactions are at least as safe, if not safer than retail ones? It would be a pretty incompetent thief that used a stolen contactless card to pay for a utility bill in their own name.

My (fledgling) experience with TSB has been pretty good, verified the first time and all transactions since were contactless with no pin required. I do generally withdraw a small amount of cash each week from a cashpoint, and I wonder if that might be helping my contactless success rate, as I am regularly verifing that I know the pin?