TSB's contactless card offer

Biggles

MarkFromCornwall wrote: »

Methinks a 'general upping of security' is probably a good thing!

But only for those rascally customers who a) have a debit card and b) are claiming £5 cashback each month and not for those nice, trustworthy credit card customers....
;-)

EachPenny

It is unscientific, but I am sure that my two TSB cards are less fussy now my 5% cashback has come to an end. I'm using the cards less, but have not had a single request to put in a PIN in the last 7 months or so. During the cashback period I was being allowed no more than 10 transactions in total, or about a week, between PIN requests.

My strategy was if one card asked for a PIN then I'd say I wanted to use another card. If the second TSB card did the same then I'd ask to use my cashback credit card.

On a few occasions I was challenged and told I HAD to use my PIN on that card, once under threat of 'security' being called if I didn't. I responded to that by asking for the entire load of shopping to be cancelled, paid for the cheapest item by PIN, then got them to put the rest of the shopping through again for a contactless payment. I had the time to argue and complain if need be

I wouldn't claim TSB are doing anything deliberately, it might just be that a higher level of checking is done when the card is newer and once a spending pattern has been identified the checks are less frequent. But still, seeing 5% cashback opportunities missed was not something I was happy putting up with.

bigadaj

I used the contactless cashback last year, then closed and reapplied for an account to get a switching bonus and then qualified for the extended contactless cash back on the new account this year.

I've had occasional requests for pins when using contactless, and will occasionally use an ATM for cash. I'd estimate that pin requests are less than 1 in 6 contactless transactions, and when it does occur I'll generally use another card unless the amount is very low.

My total transactions on that account won't be a lot more than £100 a month on cards, so primarily for cashback, so would be a prime candidate for contactless refusal.

For many it could be confirmation bias when refused, it's not my experience.

EachPenny

bigadaj wrote: »

For many it could be confirmation bias when refused

Yes, there's a good chance that's the case.

Going back to my point that I wouldn't claim TSB are doing anything deliberately there are other possibilities why this 'effect' appears to be happening. For example spending close to but not exceeding £30 on multiple transactions over a short period of time mimics the behaviour of someone who has stolen a card and is trying to gain the maximum value before the card is stopped.

The objectives of the thief and the 5% cashback hunter are the same: get as many transactions as close to £30 as you can, avoiding the need to enter a PIN, cancel the transaction if a PIN is asked for (optional for the cashback hunter!).

My weekly main supermarket shop of around £80 usually got split into three lots. One lot scanned with a self-scanner (mainly low value items), one pile of higher-value items in the trolley, and the rest. Each lot being under £30 and items being moved around just before the checkout if necessary. That resulted in three near-£30 contactless purchases within the space of a couple of minutes, at least 2 on the same card. I can see how that might trigger a red flag somewhere! Likewise with a purchase of exactly £30 of fuel.

Maybe the security system isn't smart enough to spot the difference between stolen card activity and maximising cashback activity

teddysmum

What a surprise : All three cards asked for PINs today, but then the Co-op card was used contactless with no problem, so it wasn't an Aldi related problem.


I'm going to limit my contactless to Tesco, on weekdays and use self -service, so if all cards are playing up, I will dump the sale, without having wasted a checkout person's time.


I notice that there has been no TSB denials, of our suspicions, posted.

teddysmum

It's happened again, all 3 cards requesting a PIN. The spend was only just over £7 and there's no problem with Tesco's machine as Co-op contactless worked fine.


Someone above said they closed the account and reapplied to extend th contactless offer,so I was tempted to close and reopen for the new £% for just having two direct debits, but the T&Cs don't allow the offer if you have had thee account before.


At least with the new offer you get your £5 . With this one it could be embarrassing having to try 4 cards (ie 3 fails ) as people could think your cards are all maxed, if I hadn't been shopping at less busy times.


It's tempting to complain to the CEO , but they may close the accounts,meaning missing the 3% interest.