Contactless credit cards.

hasdogs

takman wrote: »

But I never understand people's resistance to things like Contactless yet happily carry cash around with them,

Because the issue is not having the card stolen but having money stolen (or taken in error) from the card and not being able to tell for up to 3 days and then only if you check your account on the internet daily.

takman

hasdogs wrote: »

Because the issue is not having the card stolen but having money stolen (or taken in error) from the card and not being able to tell for up to 3 days and then only if you check your account on the internet daily.

Well if your card goes missing then checking your bank online daily is the least you should do, It takes less than 30 seconds a day in the age of mobile banking.

Money being taken in error or money being stolen while your still in possession of the card is extremely unlikely. But even if it is then it will easily be refunded.

People always go on about the situations that could happen but I have many Contactless cards and have it on my phone and have never had any money stolen and I don't know anyone who has.

sausage_time

Both the banks I use only "enable" contactless by forcing a chip/pin transaction the first time you attempt a contacless transaction (and occasionally thereafter - I have seen this for payments that are out of my routine).

So the implication is that if you have not been though that enable cycle then cross worrying about this off your list.

Personally I'm a huge fan of contactless (I have many cards, and Android/Amex pay on my phone). Like the previous poster, I have not lost any funds and I also do not know of anyone that has.

premierfella

I'd be interested in any research done on whether the bigger risk with contactless isn't really an unknown thief stealing your money with it but actually a friend or family member "borrowing" your card. More difficult there given that if you report it and answer "well, I don't know what happened as I thought I had the card in my wallet the whole time" you'd have trouble getting the credit card company to refund without lying to them.

hasdogs

takman wrote: »

But even if it is then it will easily be refunded.

So contactless cards are like free money, you just have to report any transaction you don't want to pay as stolen and get a refund?

takman wrote: »

People always go on about the situations that could happen but I have many Contactless cards and have it on my phone and have never had any money stolen and I don't know anyone who has.

How do you or they know - do you keep a written record of every contactless transaction you make?

takman

hasdogs wrote: »

So contactless cards are like free money, you just have to report any transaction you don't want to pay as stolen and get a refund?

Well you could say the same thing about reporting online transactions. The banks Gurantee to refund any fraudulent Contactless transactions and they can't refuse unless they can prove you authorised it. You could obviously try and scam them but that would be fraud.

How do you or they know - do you keep a written record of every contactless transaction you make?

It's not difficult to spot any fraudulent transactions if you check your accounts regularly.

But I have a system which as a side effect allows me to quickly spot any unauthorised transactions and never miss one. Whenever I make a Contactless transaction i use my TSB account to get the cashback and then immediately transfer in the amount from another account. If the account balance is at £2000 (after i transfer out interest and cashback) then I know all transactions are accounted for. All my other accounts are just used for interest and rewards so any unauthorised transactions will easily stand out as I never use the cards at all. So the only account I need to really look at is my main Account so i check each transaction line by line daily.

Vortigern

sausage_time wrote: »

Both the banks I use only "enable" contactless by forcing a chip/pin transaction the first time you attempt a contacless transaction...

I think you've misinterpreted the way contactless is enabled.

Any use of the card via chip and PIN will enable the contactless feature even if you don't intend to use it. This is simply to verify that a new card has been received by the person who has the PIN. You can't avoid enabling contactless unless you never use chip and PIN.

Certainly if you attempt a contactless transaction, with a new card that has never been used, you will be forced to chip & PIN, but you don't need to attempt contactless before it can be enabled.

I happen to like contactless, but it can quite easily be disabled by cutting off the top right corner of the card to disable the loop antenna.

Perhaps the banks should provide "cut here" marks on their cards for those who don't want contactless?

Arleen

They want you to use the card to pay for everything, and contactless is the way for them to get the transactions that usually were handed with cash because card takes time and is annoying. So for them to give you an option to opt-out from contactless, or come with "cut here" would go directly against of what their goal is .

It, of course, comes with the risk of someone stealing your card, but the damage will be limited by automated systems (if you usually pay couple pounds on average via contactless, but suddenly there is a mountain of transactions your card will get auto-flagged) and you will get your money back quickly.
As for the friends and family "borrowing" the card, well, that is theft as any other - no different than them lifting occasional note from your wallet. Do you not carry any cash in your wallet, worrying that a friend or family member may lift it?

bxboards

My issue with contactless that it will make life easier for a purse or wallet thief as it is very likely they will be able to get some money - whereas with cards locked down with PINs it makes life more difficult for them.

There can be no credible argument that removing a layer of security from a payment system makes it more secure. I think it must make the lives of pick-pockets easier, which is a civilized society is counter-intuitive to me.

There are many threads here and elsewhere regarding contactless - and it is clear that the removal of PIN security for low value transactions is a concern. I share it. I do not dispute banks will refund, but I do not want to make life easier for those who would take advantage of lost cards.

PS: I lost my wallet last year and my mobile phone this year with contactless cards and Android Pay enabled. The finders of both were honest and I got them back within 24 hours, but sadly there are more than a few low-lifes around who probably could have spent around 120-ish on my contactless cards before they'd been stopped if they were less honest. With PIN protection and no contactless, the cards would have been worthless.

Arleen

bxboards wrote: »

With PIN protection and no contactless, the cards would have been worthless.

I think that is the onus where the misconception about the insecurity of contactless comes from, that pin-coded card is otherwise safe to hand to someone, or lose. It isn't, as it still can be used for online/phone payments, although online is slowly fading away with 3D security. And while this takes a bit more work than contactless theft, the sums you yank away are way higher, and they almost always do not even get automatically flagged by the bank.

And while I won't say that contactless is more secure than non-contactless, I would say it's a lot more secure than carrying cash around. Because if they will nick your wallet with cash, the cash is gone. But if they steal your card, you get the money back, and the procedure of getting it back is a short and straightforward phone call (been through it myself). So there really is nothing to fear here.