Contactless

A question about : Contactless

Ever since contactless started to become a big thing, I've struggled to understand the point. I've never been in a pub with a contactless reader, and for supermarkets I don't see much difference between contactless and chip & pin.

If I have a contactless card in my wallet, my Lothian bus pass doesn't work without taking it out of my wallet. I also hear numerous tales of payment being taken from the wrong card. Like many on here, I have plenty of bank accounts. If all the cards were contactless and someone stole my wallet, they could easily spend Ј200+ in small transactions.

I guess what I'm asking is: why do people like them? A lot of people post saying they regard contactless as an important feature. What do you use it for?

Best answers:

• Maybe it depends where you use it, but everywhere I go has contactless. It's great at bars and pubs, plus in London it basically replaces an Oyster card on buses and tubes.
• Maybe Edinburgh's just behind the the curve with it. The buses don't accept it (as I said, it actively causes problems) and most pubs prefer cash. There's a Ј10 minimum on cards in a lot of pubs, which would mean even if they took contactless (they don't) your round would have to fall into the Ј10-20 window.
  It's fine for supermarkets, but for smaller businesses I have a suspicion that the processing costs outweigh any perceived benefit of encouraging people to spend small amounts on a card.
  I have a railcard, so in London I'd be better using my oyster card anyway - 34% discount on off peak fares.
• I don't think Edinburgh is behind the curve I've used it in a few shops the last time I was in Edinburgh. Perhaps you just don't go into any shops that use it, or have never noticed that the terminal offers you the option to use contactless.
  Here in Manchester the Buses don't use contactless payments yet, but they are going to be very shortly.
  Its actually cheaper to process a contactless payment than it is a chip and pin payment.
  The local shop has a Ј5.00 limit for card payments if your using chip and pin, but if its contactless then it only seems to be Ј1 minimum spend.
• It's definitely better. In London I still only use Oyster and cash, but in the past got so frustrated with a queue of people using a credit card to pay for a sandwich in Boots, or a pint in the pub. Way quicker now.
  ... although I really don't understand why people don't carry a bit of cash. At least 50 quid or something.
• Before long, contactless is set to take off in a very big way. Once you can use your phone instead of your card(s), the limit will be your limit on the card, not just Ј20 or Ј30. This will also encourage the remaining retailers to accept contactless payments.
• There was a competition to encourage people to use it, one entry per use so I started trying to use it and it worked occasionally but many times it didn't, especially in Wetherspoons and I found it embarrassing to keep trying only to have to revert to the chip and pin. In the end I gave up and have put the card away. I couldn't find any shops that took it either, just a few big pub type chains.
• I have had a contactless card for ages but never got round to using it - yet.
  OH does but there don't seem to be many places I go that take it or I have never noticed. Local supermarket does I know that but for smaller purchases I am old fashioned and tend to use cash.
  I also use cash in pubs so that I can think "bloody hell! How much!!!" when I look at the small amount of change I receive.
• I don't see this happening - big payments essentially without authorisation.
• I like Contactless for:
  1) speed of transaction (& therefore speed of queue at busy times)
  2) the card stays in my hand at all times, so no risk of forgetting to take it out of the chip & pin machine
  Security does concern me, but I hope the banks would pick up on sudden multiple transactions.
  I still prefer to use Oyster in London so that I'm not waving my bank card around in busy moving crowds.
  I wouldn't use mobile contactless. Current phone is useless anyway & if I had a new one, I don't like the idea of having my whole life on one "stealable" device.
  For posters who've complained about card-clash (problems with more than one card being in their wallet), it's in the Ts & Cs for my contactless card that I must remove it from my wallet/purse to use it so as to avoid card-clash / multiple transactions / failed transactions.
• I use contactless a lot and find it very easy to use. As most of my cards are now contactless I keep them together as, if I understand the technology correctly, if there are two or more they are better protected against accidental use. However, I am not an expert on this and can only give my personal experience.
  I don't know of any bus operators outside of London which now accept contactless debit cards on their vehicles but as I have my 'old biddy' pass I don't look for it.
  So, love my cards, use them loads, prefer them for what they are designed for and am not worried about security. It's the bank which bears the loss if they are used fraudulently, same as other transactions.
• Contactless saves nearly a second at the tolls on the M6 & if you have a frozen shoulder it saves you having to contort into a painful position to get the card into the slot.
  Other than that I've never used it.