Loss of TSB 5% contactless benefits

bigadaj

takman wrote: »

When it is denied do you put the card into the machine and pay entering your pin?. If you don't and just use contactless all the time that may be the problem because you need to do a transaction using your pin every so often for security reasons.

Also i wouldn't switch the account because you will loose the 5% interest on £2000 and the 5% regular saver!

Just make sure you get a balance from an atm regularly or at least before you use it for contactless. It's not absolutely guaranteed to work due to the random nature of pin requests but I've not had a failed contactless payment for several months now.

bxboards

bigadaj wrote: »

Just make sure you get a balance from an atm regularly or at least before you use it for contactless. It's not absolutely guaranteed to work due to the random nature of pin requests but I've not had a failed contactless payment for several months now.

My contactless TSB seems to get declined and I am asked for a PIN around every 3 transactions.

You are just seeing random behaviour. My side I got a balance from a Sainsbury's ATM then was declined for contactless next time I tried to use it in the Post Office.

I am definitely asked for a PIN for my TSB for more than other contactless cards, I usually get away with 2 or 3 at the most transactions before I need a PIN entry.

swindiff

My TSB card gets declined a lot for contactless well over 50% of the time. Last week it was declined 4 times in a row, each time I put the PIN in to make the payment. My suspicious mind tells me this is a way for TSB to get out of paying so much cashback.

bxboards

swindiff wrote: »

My suspicious mind tells me this is a way for TSB to get out of paying so much cashback.

It certainly does feel like that at times.

I had to put in a PIN for over 60 pounds worth of purchases over 3 sales in June, and these did'nt count for the 5%.

This August I've had used my TSB card 8 times, and had to put in the PIN on 3 occasions.

It is almost certainly random, but I think the threshold for number of transactions before they ask for a PIN is much lower with TSB than other cards.

Once they remove the 5% interest and the 5% contactless cashback, I can see little reason to keep the account.

colsten

I realise this doesn't help those who don't have an iPhone with Apple Pay functionality but I thought I mention it anyway. I had not one single failure since I have been using the TSB cards with Apple Pay. I use 3 different cards each month, and generally just buy a £100 Waitrose gift card with each of the cards. Occasionally I make some contactless purchases at M&S or Boots as well.

Jibeddy

I'm with you here. I too have noticed the TSB contactless card declines far more than other contactless cards; reassuring? Perhaps, annoying? Certainly.

But with Apple Pay it has never failed! What's more, I was using Apple Pay before I'd even used the card itself. Maybe not the answer that will help everyone, but anyone with Apple Pay as an option should definitely consider it. Fairly easy to set up too.

skyepark

i use my contactless tsb cards for travel on tfl.

john1002

I agree, apple pay never declines with TSB, the one issue I had was down to the terminal itself and not the card or apple pay so I always use apple pay for TSB card to get the cash back. Apple pay si also handy for those cards that are not yet contactless but with apple pay you can make them, nationwide credit card for one and santander debit card(i don't qualify for the contactless one)

john

bigadaj

bxboards wrote: »

My contactless TSB seems to get declined and I am asked for a PIN around every 3 transactions.

You are just seeing random behaviour. My side I got a balance from a Sainsbury's ATM then was declined for contactless next time I tried to use it in the Post Office.

I am definitely asked for a PIN for my TSB for more than other contactless cards, I usually get away with 2 or 3 at the most transactions before I need a PIN entry.

No, I think you are probably suffering from pessimism bias.

If you are making a number of pin certified atm transactions then the number of contactless transactions that require pin certification will reduce, they will be set to say one for every four transactions, but this will vary around every other transaction for a while and one in six maybe at another time.

As to whether TSB criteria vary from other banks then we don't know, I personally don't bother with contactless with my other cards apart from odd examples like public transport where it is the default option.

I suffered from pin requests earlier in the year, and as I say can't really compare with other institutions as I find contactless a bit pointless for most purchases, but it's definitely reduced since getting balance requests from an ATM over the last few months.

PS I don't use Apple Pay as I don't have an iPhone but prefer the £500 saving on the phone to the risk of losing a few quid on cashback.

Grade_A_Reject

colsten wrote: »

I realise this doesn't help those who don't have an iPhone with Apple Pay functionality but I thought I mention it anyway. I had not one single failure since I have been using the TSB cards with Apple Pay. I use 3 different cards each month, and generally just buy a £100 Waitrose gift card with each of the cards. Occasionally I make some contactless purchases at M&S or Boots as well.

I though the limit for contactless payments was £30. Do Waitrose allow you to buy a single gift card with 4 separate contactless cards in a single transaction?