What are your thoughts on the contactless card limit increasing to £100?

[Hadders]

I see it as a pointless and potentially risky change. Contactless is good for relatively small transactions, but for anything over say £20 I prefer to stick the card in the slot and type my PIN in, it gives me a slightly better sense of confidence.

This actually increases the risk.

If you make six consecutive contactless transactions you have to re-validate your PIN. Making a chip and pin purchase resets this count. If you make additional chip and pin transactions it means there is more chance of six contactless transactions being available to be made should your card fall into the wrong hands.

That said, your bank is responsible for any loss unless you have been negligent. On the other hand you are responsible for any loss of cash from a lost or stolen wallet regardless of whether you have been negligent or not.

 

[PeterC]

I am quite comfortable with the increase IF transactions over the current limit accelerate the need for revalidation with a pin.

 

[bubieyehyeh]

I use contactless where I can. I was initially reluctant since while losses are the banks problem, there would be a certain amount of hassle to sort out issues. However I genrally only use credit cards not debit cards so it no my money that is lost temporarily. However what I realised was that using contactless was probably safer overall since entering the pin less often. So less chance for a thief to try shoulder-surfing me typing in the pin, before stealing the card. Or a modified machine stealing card numbers and pins.

 

[Hadders]

I am quite comfortable with the increase IF transactions over the current limit accelerate the need for revalidation with a pin.

I don't think there'll be any changes to the rules as such but the contactless limit increasing to £100 means fewer opportunities to 'reset the count' by making a normal chip and pin transaction (simply because there will be fewer chip and pin transactions). Revalidating a PIN will become much more frequent simply because there will be more consecutive chip and pin transactions.

 

[eoff]

I don’t understand why this bothers you. I decided some years back the risks of contactless outweigh the benefits to me and I instructed my bank to disable contactless on my cards. If others want to spend £100, £1,000 or £10,000 by waving a card about that is up to them.

My credit card company said it was impossible to disable contactless, now after years of refusing them I have to work out where to drill the one recent card I have.
I have two issues
1) chasing the issuer if the card is lost and used, or used temporarily when handed over.
2) For convenience I want one RFID security access card to work which is next to all the others and have no readers confused by it.

 

[najaB]

My credit card company said it was impossible to disable contactless...

"Impossible" and "not our policy" are two different things. Perhaps it's time to take your business elsewhere?

 

[eoff]

"Impossible" and "not our policy" are two different things. Perhaps it's time to take your business elsewhere?

Happy to do so if there is another card that gives >=0.5% cashback on all purchases. I should ask them again.

 

[londonteacher]

I can't tell whether the snobbery over purchasing items from Card Factoryon this thread is real or a joke? I would assume a joke!

 

[Ashley Hill]

Whilst we're off topic I use neither card shop mentione, I support our local Streamers chain of card/party shops.

 

[Hadders]

My credit card company said it was impossible to disable contactless, now after years of refusing them I have to work out where to drill the one recent card I have.
I have two issues
1) chasing the issuer if the card is lost and used, or used temporarily when handed over.
2) For convenience I want one RFID security access card to work which is next to all the others and have no readers confused by it.

You shouldn’t be handing a card over to anyone these days.

 

[Darandio]

I can't tell whether the snobbery over purchasing items from Card Factoryon this thread is real or a joke? I would assume a joke!

Possibly, possibly not. It seems to be the done thing these days, often seen with places such as Primark where they try to shame people who shop there.

 

[87 027]

My credit card company said it was impossible to disable contactless

The NatWest app allows me to enable/disable individually the following payment types/methods on my current account debit card: contactless; in-person; online & telephone; subscriptions; gambling; international

 

[birchesgreen]

I can't tell whether the snobbery over purchasing items from Card Factoryon this thread is real or a joke? I would assume a joke!

Really? Thought it was incredibly obviously a joke

 

[capitalconnect]

Contactless card payment limit in UK to rise to £100 in October

Switch to contactless has gathered pace since cap was raised from £30 to £45 at start of pandemic

www.theguardian.com

What on earth is the point in this, other than making it easier for people to spend more and more money without giving it proper thought? I have never been in a situation where I need to spend more than £30 so urgently that I can't spare the 10-20 seconds it takes for chip and PIN to work.

At this point, it's just progress for the sake of progress and at the expense of security.

Just to clarify is the new contactless limit increasing to anything under £100.00 or including £100.00 too? So if you buy something for exactly £100.00 will this also be included? Or is it only up to £99.99 total? Just wanted to clarify it as i have read one article using the word "Under £100.00" so am not entirely sure?

Personally i am not a fan of contactless at all let alone increasing the limit. It is so easy to get scammed using contactless. If you are in a crowd anyone can easily hold their device against your bag or your wallet in your back pocket and just easily steal money from your card in like one second. Personally i would prefer if we got rid of contactless entirely and just went back to using chip and pin only.

 

[Butts]

There are still a number of small independent shops that display a notice that they will not accept £50 notes.

Crazy really when 100 Euro and Dollar Notes are accepted without a blink abroad.

Also they are probably only worth about £20 now compared to when they were introduced (buying power adjusted) and £20's have never been a problem.

Imagine if someone tendered a £100 Scottish Banknote

 

[GB]

It is so easy to get scammed using contactless. If you are in a crowd anyone can easily hold their device against your bag or your wallet in your back pocket and just easily steal money from your card in like one second.

Any evidence or facts for those…particularly the 2nd one?

 

[capitalconnect]

Crazy really when 100 Euro and Dollar Notes are accepted without a blink abroad.

Also they are probably only worth about £20 now compared to when they were introduced (buying power adjusted) and £20's have never been a problem.

Imagine if someone tendered a £100 Scottish Banknote

It is quite normal for £50 banknotes to be refused. My local convenience shop has a big sign in the window saying that £50 banknotes are not accepted. Even big companies refuse them. I remember that Arriva Bus (before they shut all their offices) refused to accept £50 banknotes in their travel office even to purchase an annual ticket costing almost £1000 and demanded people pay with £5/£10/£20 banknotes or cards. I think it is understandable that businesses do not want to accept any £50 banknotes as they are much more commonly counterfeited than others.

Also to be fair i did see a shop in Dublin Ireland about a year ago with a sign saying:

"We do not accept €50/€100/€200/€500 banknotes for any purchases."

So i do not think this is entirely a UK thing.

Any evidence or facts for those…particularly the 2nd one?

It is what i have read online. I have read this in an article that all someone has to do is hold a device against your bag or back pocket with your wallet in it and they can steal your money in one second. There are a few articles online about this.

 

[GB]

There are probably 1000’s of contactless cards travelling in just London alone everyday, if that was an issue it would be widespread and well publicised.

Halifax - Internet Banking - Error

www.halifax.co.uk

Myth: Someone could steal money from me by putting a card reader against my pocket​

Back in 2016, a photo of a man holding a card reader was shared online suggesting that he was a ‘pickpocket’ trying to steal money from people’s contactless cards.[1]

You’ll be relieved to learn that, in reality, this wasn’t the case at all: the UK Cards Association responded to the photo, explaining there was no evidence that this had happened, and they’d never received any reports of this happening.

The ‘pickpocket’ would need a legitimate business account and a registered terminal to take any payments. What’s more, card readers will turn down transactions if they encounter other objects, such as other cards, keys and phones. The thief would have been incredibly lucky to pick up any money this way. And of course, our fraud protection guarantee covers you in any instance where your card is lost or stolen and misused.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Faraday wallets are available for those fearing unsolicited scanning.

 

[birchesgreen]

Yes i bought a new wallet a couple of months ago which apparently has a "RFID blocking layer to help prevent the unwarranted scanning of identification, credit and debit cards."

 

[Ediswan]

My local convenience shop has a big sign in the window saying that £50 banknotes are not accepted.

A shop I visited recently had a sign saying that £50 Sterling notes would not be accepted. That seemed a waste of ink to me as I doubt they would accept non-sterling pound notes e.g. Egyptian.

 

[GB]

Should be noted that £50 notes are still legal tender. So while a shop can refuse them if you are trying to buy something, they have no right of complaint and no legal recourse if you are using them to settle a debt…ie a service already used (meal in a restaurant already consumed for example)

 

[Peter0124]

Hate that awful smell after using cash therefore its been happily cards only for me the last 2 years. Not too sure about the £100 limit though for contactless, it does seem a bit much.

Was a pain when I paid £2 in cash for something that was £1.99 and was expected to take a pence back as change.

 

[Hadders]

It is so easy to get scammed using contactless. If you are in a crowd anyone can easily hold their device against your bag or your wallet in your back pocket and just easily steal money from your card in like one second.

Despite reading about it online there is no evidence that it has actually happened to anyone, despite contactless being in regular use for years.

 

[Busaholic]

Card Factory is full of chavs and people with too many missing teeth

What about the customers?

 

[Mag_seven]

I've been using contactless for years with no issues. All that is required is vigilance when using it and regular checking of statements.

 

[capitalconnect]

What was the point of introducing contactless in the first place anyway? Typing in your pin takes like three seconds? Are people in that much of a rush these days that saving three seconds is important to them? Are there any other benefits of contactless other than saving a couple seconds?

 

[birchesgreen]

Are people in that much of a rush these days that saving three seconds is important to them?

Yes, time is money baby.

 

[Hadders]

What was the point of introducing contactless in the first place anyway? Typing in your pin takes like three seconds? Are people in that much of a rush these days that saving three seconds is important to them? Are there any other benefits of contactless other than saving a couple seconds?

To replace cash for small value transactions.

 

[najaB]

Are there any other benefits of contactless other than saving a couple seconds

How long would the queues be at tube/metro ticket barriers if people had to type in their PINs? How comfortable would you be entering your PIN into an unattended terminal (e.g. a vending machine) as opposed to tapping your card? How would chip and PIN work with NFC payment devices (phones/smartphones)?