To not pay via contactless?

[DonaldLovesDoritos]

I was in my local Tesco today, just quickly grabbing a few things.

I got to the till and was told "It is contactless you know". I said I was aware, but I'd rather pay via the usual chip and pin if that was okay. The checkout lady looked a bit confused.

Later this afternoon I visited Boots. The woman who served me said would I mind using contactless, because it'll be quicker and hurry things along. I said no thank you, I'll stick with pin entering if that's alright. She was very and just repeated "contactless is faster for us"

AIBU not to pay via contactless?

OP I'm with you on this. I don't know whether it's the particular bank we use, but we can frequently have several hundred pounds worth of money "pending" to go out of our account for days. All built up from contactless payments. It's beginning to really annoy me. My husband has suggested we switch to monzo for our joint account like he's done for his individual one because of this.

I keep a very close eye on our banking through or app, and we are lucky enough to be fairly flexible with money, but it can still be a bit of a shock when you see it all "pending". Bloody irritating.

Sar302, I posted earlier about Monzo - I thought in theory it was perfect for tracking actual funds available but it’s not. It may be just the pay at pump system that’s quirky but I could have easily gone overdrawn and incurred fees because my actual balance wasn’t updated.

I use a very simple spending tracker app that I balance against my bank account every few days and I use the balance in the app as the source of truth

@Electrack that's good to know, thank you! I'm a bit nervous to move away from "traditional" banks too I have to say.

Do you mind me asking what app you use?

I've had the same problem with chip and pin, mostly in coffee shops. I went to buy DD a £50 toy, and there was no money in my account.

YANBU

I don't find it hard to keep track of what I'm spending, but if you need to see the transactions straight away and find chip and pin shows then quicker then use what's best for you.
Most people do pay by contactless where they can though so that could result in the shop assistants being . And if they were busy in boots then she was probably just letting you know it would be quicker for her.

BarbaraofSevillle is right about fees too

Nope, you have every right not to use contactless. it's your money and you are keeping a tab on it - nothing wrong with that. The till people just wait.

You know, just because some wizard thought up something new, that is no reason to go like "waaa!! how great! I want it!"

I personally don't mind contactless but mind a lot of other new things and still have a Nokia 2G phone ...

Sar it’s just called Spending and has a brown wallet icon. It’s very basic, it simply records your incomings and outgoings and you can see a chart to look at your categories of spend but for me it’s just a balance sheet!

I think Monzo may be good for travel abroad and I do like the pre-pay idea but the delay in updating the balance was contrary to what I needed it for.

I’m my area we have a local currency using an app. You top up and get 25p for every £5 you top up. Vendors pay a fee to join but no transaction charges. All my local bars, restaurants, book shop take it. It’s great for tracking my social spend (which isn’t small!). I think there’s a few local currencies in the UK

DB sent me a clip he filmed at a festival a few months ago where someone was moving thru the crowd with a contactless terminal placing it near peoples bags etc. It isn’t secure enough and I don’t use it at all.

I hate it because it doesn't show up on your account right away. Eg I will always know my balance just about (as I don't use it) but my student son loves contactless yet cannot tell me what something cost I might have to refund him because it has not "gone through yet". Also I now use cash for food at supermarkets and for petrol just because I want cash preserved - they are already talking about abolishing the 1p in yesterday's newspapers - and you can see how money is being spent if it's there in your purse and I don't see why someone should have a record of everything I spent - so my using a bit of cash is doing my bit against the surveillance state.

If we are not careful and we all stop using cash we will lose all cash entirely and it will be abolished which will be very difficult for some people and lose us freedom and choices.

That’s a good point Xenia. I think using cash for your weekly routine purchases helps budget too. I’d be more likely to put in the minor effort to make a salad to take to work for lunch than lazily think I’ll just catch the mobile sandwich van who conveniently takes cards, if what I had to spend for the week was visible in coins and notes.

Also my local greengrocer only takes card for purchase over £5 and as I almost never have cash, I avoid the shop and buy plastic wrapped supermarket food. Having cash will encourage me to buy local. Excellent, thanks for the idea Xenia!

That’s a good point Xenia. I think using cash for your weekly routine purchases helps budget too. I’d be more likely to put in the minor effort to make a salad to take to work for lunch than lazily think I’ll just catch the mobile sandwich van who conveniently takes cards, if what I had to spend for the week was visible in coins and notes.

I've not experienced what a PP has with Monzo, I've had transactions show up immediately (as soon as I tap my card the notification pops up on my phone) and I find it much much easier to track my spending when I can see very visually how much is going on coffee / lunch, how much on groceries . And I can set budgets and see very visually and track directly how much I've got left in a given weekly budget, or a budget for a particular category (eg takeout food & drink)

YMMV however! Different strokes for different folks

I also find Yolt much easier for tracking ALL my spending in one view (main current account, Visa cc, Amex cc, Monzo card) - any cash spending is invisible to that view.

That is a good point Banana - using card means I can ask "I spent HOW MUCH on wine last week?!"

I do like the idea of shopping locally though and having cash in my purse enables that.

Because it doesn't show up straight away on my available balance (via online banking), and little transactions of £30 or under all add up without even showing in pending transactions
If you use Monzo-you can top up from your bank account. It shows up straightaway and you have an app so you can easily keep track of what you've spent. I love it!