Contactless Payments

Citygirl1 · 5 August 2018 at 6:59PM

Hi, does anyone else use contactless payments all the time? I used to always use cash and just use my debit card for purchases over about £20 but now I'm using contactless for even a coffee and its like I'm not spending money, I'm just swiping a card and that's it.

I feel cash is more controllable and not many people seem to use it these days.

mumf · 5 August 2018 at 7:27PM

I see customers use contactless for 89p packs of bread at work.That is a concern to me. For me,cash is king.If I ain 't got it,I don't spend it.But that is me.

rach_k · 5 August 2018 at 7:43PM

I think that kind of attitude will die out. Older people grew up with 'money' usually meaning coins and notes so perhaps money that you aren't holding in your hand doesn't feel as real. Younger people grew up (or will grow up) with money being an online bank balance and a card tapped so I don't think they will have the same issues when it comes to paying with a card. Of course, there are people of all ages who will struggle to control themselves however the money is paid!

Personally, I feel completely the opposite to the OP. All of my banking is done online and I pay for most things online or on a card, often contactless. It's always tracked because it's written on my bank statement without me having to do anything. Cash in my purse feels like spare money because once it's down as withdrawn from the bank, it doesn't appear on my statement again. I tend to fritter cash away.

kuratowski · 5 August 2018 at 7:55PM

If you're spending too much on coffee and snacks when out, start taking a flask into work and buy supermarket multipacks of whatever snack you fancy and take one in.

This isn't a problem about technology, it's a problem about how you behave.

Citygirl1 · 5 August 2018 at 8:02PM

rach_k wrote: »

I think that kind of attitude will die out. Older people grew up with 'money' usually meaning coins and notes so perhaps money that you aren't holding in your hand doesn't feel as real. Younger people grew up (or will grow up) with money being an online bank balance and a card tapped so I don't think they will have the same issues when it comes to paying with a card. Of course, there are people of all ages who will struggle to control themselves however the money is paid!

Personally, I feel completely the opposite to the OP. All of my banking is done online and I pay for most things online or on a card, often contactless. It's always tracked because it's written on my bank statement without me having to do anything. Cash in my purse feels like spare money because once it's down as withdrawn from the bank, it doesn't appear on my statement again. I tend to fritter cash away.

I use online banking but I still find it hard to keep up with my budget with contactless payments as they don't show straight away and I somehow find it hard to sort out my budget.

skogar · 5 August 2018 at 8:18PM

I agree Citygirl. I find cash a lot easier to keep track of. For day to day spending I use cash. i know how much I've taken out and it's easy to keep track of how much I've spent. I use cash for shopping at the supermarket as well but do buy my fuel using a card. I don't use contactless. each to their own.

LameWolf · 5 August 2018 at 8:47PM

I won't use contactless at all. I feel it's way too easy to spend a bit here and a bit there and not keep a tight rein on it. Plus, if someone hacks your account and helps themselves to just a tenner or so, you're likely to write it off as "oh, I must've spent more on coffee/snacks/magazines/other rubbish than I'd thought". I'm told that this is what some petty criminals are now doing, just stealing a few quid at a time, and trusting that people won't bother to check on it.

Owain_Moneysaver · 5 August 2018 at 9:27PM

Yes.

And banks and shops are happy for people to use contactless because it's been shown that people do spend more.

pigpen · 5 August 2018 at 11:42PM

i dont have contactless as an option. If someone 'found' my card they could use it for any number of under £30 transactions and I use my card so rarely I would not notice until I checked my bank.. mine does however show up all payment aas 'pending' within seconds of being made.. My husbands natwest account doesn't have this option.. I think contactless is a very easy way for petty criminals to steal a fair chunk of money from innocent people.

But I will not have contactless as an option.. even though I rarely have money in my current account.. I pay it off my (non-contactless) credit card and use that where possible.. I don't carry cash either.. !!!!!! is this plastic monopoly money? I ripped the first £5 note into 3 bits the first time I put it in my purse and have shredded 2 more since then!

Mr_Singleton · 6 August 2018 at 5:42PM

What an utterly bizarre thread!

Boiling this down the dislike of contactless cards comes down to it being to easy to spend money. That has nothing to do with contactless and everything to do with the individual and lack of self-control.

I pretty much exclusively use contactless. It!!!8217;s far more secure on your phone with a keypad lock than carrying around a card that can get skimmed. Also do I (or anyone else) want loose change rattling around in the pocket of an expensive suit?

pete-20-11 · 6 August 2018 at 7:10PM

If you have a smartphone, android pay keeps a list of contactless payments, updated pretty much instantly. I presume Apple Pay does similar?

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