Does your DC leave their bank cards at home and rely on their phone?

[endoftetha]

My son (17) has a debit card, but leaves it at home and uses Google Pay on his phone instead, even when travelling away from home in the UK for a few days to visit friends etc. I'm concerned he will get stranded if he either
(a) loses his phone or
(b) runs out of battery.

His counter-argument for scenario (a) is that he will be more likely to lose his card if it is in a separate wallet because he uses it so infrequently. Plus, he wants to travel light, not have multiple things to carry.

He doesn't really have a counter-argument for (b), other than "it has never happened".

We live in London, so he does carry a 16+ Oyster Zip photocard in his phone case. There isn't space for his debit card too, so he probably just needs a better case. I know my niece has a card wallet stuck to the back of her phone, but it looks to me like it could easily come unstuck.

Any recommendations for a good secure setup for a phone and a couple of cards? What does your equivalent young person do?

Thanks, interesting. I was hoping to get recommendations like this - it was the main reason for starting the thread.

Thank you to everyone who has suggested something that might be helpful.

99% of times I pay with my phone with the remaining 1% cash. It’s never causes me a problem.

Mine only use thier phones but have a £20 note tucked in their phone cases for emergencies

Can't remember the last time I used a debit card. I don't even know my PIN numbers. I only use Apple Pay these days

Dd is 15 and I keep reminding her she needs to bring her card and a bit of cash for emergencies. It drives me crazy that she tries to leave the house without them. As for losing them, I put an AirTag on a small wallet.

My DH does this. Though one time he had to come home and collect the cards due to an issue at the shop not allowing apple/Google pay/etc, but you could use chip and pin.

I work for the tube and would like to advise all PPs to please bring your cards with you, even when you mainly use your phone, to pay for travel.

If a payment using one form of contactless fails, either because of insufficient funds, or a change of card number, or many other reasons, TfL block that contactless means until you register the card with them then spend a stupid amount of time trying to sort the transaction out.

If you only bring your phone and it only has one card on it you are STUFFED.

So please bring back-ups. And if this happens to you don't get angry with me. Many a time there has been a stranded soul when this happens.

My young person NEVER uses her phone, only her card. I tend to spend too much using my phone, so I switch my wallet off and stick with my card.

When I got my Wise account for holiday money I paid a fee to get a card, because of the problems people have at my work.

This

I’m 51 and I often leave my purse at home. I pay for most things with my phone or watch.

Me too ! Phone only , I have a fab cross body phone carrying case thing .

Many banks have a facility where you can withdraw cash from an ATM without a bank card. Maybe learn how yours works so you can help DC when they call in a panic.

https://www.natwest.com/support-centre/banking-from-home/how-to-use-the-mobile-app/what-is-get-cash-and-how-do-i-use-it.html

No, both my 16 and 14 year olds took their cards as well as phones on school overseas trips in recent months.

not a good idea to keep phone and cards together, especially if the phone is used for authentication.

Always wise to turn off preview message when locked.

You can get a popsocket or MagSafe wallet which goes on phone case.

Not my DC but I never carry my cards with me and just use my phone. Never had an issue with my phone losing charge, as I always charge it overnight and carry a power pack with me in my bag.

I've never had my phone rejected or encountered a time when the systems were down. But the way the systems work, if I couldn't use my phone to pay then I wouldn't have been able to use a card either.

My son takes his card everywhere but I never take mine. I always lose bank cards but I’ve never lost a phone.

I never take my card.

(I do take a portable charger)

Adding to the chorus- I rarely have my purse and cards with me, mostly use my phone and smartwatch. I'm 37.

THIS. I am pretty sure there have been warnings about this - DO NOT keep your card together with your phone. If you do and your phone is stolen, you are just making it easy for someone to drain your bank account.

Not in the UK.

I take all my cards with me everywhere AND cash in the currency of wherever I am AND some US dollars! (OK, the last one is probably paranoia, but my Dad told me many years ago to always keep a stash of US dollars on me wherever I went in the world, and now it's just habit).

I live in an earthquake-prone country, and I think it's wise to make sure you have ways of getting stuff done if systems fail (transportation systems, electricity, charge points, card-based payment systems). In a real emergency, even being able to bribe someone could help you out. We've had outages of this kind due to natural disasters over the 20-plus years I've lived here.

The UK will most likely see more unexpected outages like these in the years ahead due to less-predictable weather (floods, extreme heat) and the fact that the shift towards renewables, while welcome and essential, may result in grids being less stable until battery and storage stuff fully catches up.

My family in the UK always took the piss out of me for keeping a stash of cash on me, until we went on a family outing several years (I think it was Chester Zoo or something like that, but don't quote me on that), and arrived only to find that all the card-based systems were down; can't remember the reason why, but I think it was a sudden heat wave. There was a line of sorry-looking people driving away because they hadn't booked in advance and had no way of paying. We were able to settle the whole thing because I had (just about) enough cash on me. As I said while paying, "I'll buy these tickets for the whole group, as long as you all promise never to tease me again about carrying cash!"

I always take cards . Phone always in bottom of bag

In the U.K, no.

Leave your son to it. He has friends to rely on if anything goes wrong.

Does he have house keys?

There is quite a lot of 'wearable' tech around that can be used instead of a card or phone, not just watches.

A key ring might be OK it doesn't really add any weight to the keys.

I am the only one in a house of 4 who refuses to set up payments on my phone. I always carry a purse and a phone, they only ever carry a phone.
They have all been caught out in the past, most frequently is my husband.

I do this, and so does my teen daughter.

I make her take a power bank everywhere, so that solves the battery problem, and she isn't old enough that she'd be far enough away alone that there wouldn't be an adult/another person with her if she lost her phone.

I did have my phone stolen once and was saved by being able to pay on my Apple Watch, and download my train tickets onto my daughter's phone via my email/train app. Unsure what we'd have done without my watch for payment that day tbh.