Co-op bank issuing only contactless cards

Brie

Daliah said:

Brie said:

If you claim fraudulent transactions on your card too often they will find a way to turn contactless off.  They won't admit it's possible until it starts costing them money.

Are you suggesting the OP should fraudulently claim fraudulent transactions to get their card made contactless?

Not at all!   I'm just saying that banks have the ability to turn off the contactless if they want to.  Frankly I don't know why they make it difficult as it actually benefits them.  Maybe they simply don't want to update the apps or online systems to allow people to turn it off themselves so someone would need to ring them up to get this done (assuming they admit it's possible) and that costs them probably as much or more than paying off when simple card fraud happens.

Daliah

Brie said:

  

 I'm just saying that banks have the ability to turn off the contactless if they want to. Frankly I don't know why they make it difficult as it actually benefits them.  

AFAICS, Coop Bank are pretty much the only bank which doesn't let you change the contactless limit, to £0 if you wish. If this is an issue for people, they can vote with their feet.

km1500

For me the best thing is to have a non-contactless card which you carry around with you for a backup

Meanwhile you add the card to Google pay Apple pay or Samsung pay whichever you prefer and use it day to day contactless with the knowledge that should your battery fail or other problems occur that you have a non-contactless backup card with you

[Deleted User]

pramsay13 said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

For security add the card to Google wallet or Apple Pay.
Face id or fingerprint is needed to pay.
Better than a pin.

My phone doesn't need to be unlocked to use Google wallet. 

You can set this in phone settings, my old phone you could use a side button to activate google pay and then immediately pay but I turned that nonsense off as it's obvious that someone stealing your phone could run riot if they wanted to, hence I do the fingerprint

soundgeek

Deleted_User said:

It's possible to cut through the contactless antenna and disable it, but at your own risk of damaging the card and breeching the bank's T&Cs

I used a hole punch, just inside the right side edge. It cut through the antenna and now I have a secure chip & pin card again.

Thanks for the tip!

[Deleted User]

soundgeek said:

Deleted_User said:

It's possible to cut through the contactless antenna and disable it, but at your own risk of damaging the card and breeching the bank's T&Cs

I used a hole punch, just inside the right side edge. It cut through the antenna and now I have a secure chip & pin card again.

Thanks for the tip!

What is the price of tinfoil these days?

pridehappy

I believe most banks are going in this direction, and every single card I've received has been contactless. Most banks allow you to set a contactless limit in the app (set it to £0 to turn off contactless) although I've never had a Cooperative Bank account so I'm not sure if they have the ability. If not, give them a call and request it to be reduced. If they can't do it, there's plenty of other switching offers out there such as NatWest which provides this ability.

WillPS

pridehappy said:

I believe most banks are going in this direction, and every single card I've received has been contactless. Most banks allow you to set a contactless limit in the app (set it to £0 to turn off contactless) although I've never had a Cooperative Bank account so I'm not sure if they have the ability. If not, give them a call and request it to be reduced. If they can't do it, there's plenty of other switching offers out there such as NatWest which provides this ability.

Setting it zero does not turn off contactless. The functionality is still there in the card and the card can still be used, although in theory it will prompt for a PIN every time it's used (after it has received the £0 limit, anyway).

The only bank issuing actually non-contactless cards now is HSBC (+ First Direct and M&S Bank).

Edit: Santander also advertise that their Basic account comes with one.

born_again

surreysaver said:

Presumably if you set it to £0, that still won't prevent contactless transactions which are offline?

Surprisingly ALL contactless payments go for authorisation & have done for at least 5 years. As there is a zero floor limit on them.

km1500

Nationwide do too - well, I have one.