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?

A lot of misinformation on here.

I would suggest OP that you talk directly to your bank and get the correct info about transactions, about how much can be spent on your card (by you or by anyone else) before you need a PIN (all transactions over the limit that require a PIN or if you use an ATM and use your PIN will 'reset' the contactless card to allow you to continue using contactless) and what you could be liable for should you lose your card or it is stolen. That way your mind should be set at rest and you will feel more comfortable using it.

And remember, never give your card to anyone these days to put in any machine. If using contactless, you tap it, no one else, certainly not the retailer (this is in the rules they sign up to so feel free to tell them off - they can also be reported for it) and even with Chip and PIN, there should be no reason to give your card to the retailer. One of the reasons these two methods are now used in the UK is to avoid some elements of fraud such as card cloning done by naughty retail staff.

Remember, get your info direct from someone at your bank (who knows what they are talking about) and not a tabloid who do not have your interests (or the banks') at heart.

Don't know about other supermarkets but someone who works at Aldi told me they have to scan an average of over 1000 items an hour or they get reprimanded - so in that case contactless probably helps the cashier meet their targets. Although people not using the 'packing shelves' is probably much more of a issue than people using chip and pin or cash to pay?

YANBU. I grew up in a system where the money came out of you account immediately. Now it takes ages (regardless of whether it is contactless or pin for me). I hate it. Would happily pin if it would help me avoid it but I doesn't (barclays customer)

We deactivate the contactless chips now.

Are you sure? Have the bank told you that’s been done?

If you want instant feedback on your transactions and easy ways to track your spending, get a Monzo or Starling account, as PP have said. I use Monzo for all small transactions, so I can easily see at a glance how much I'm spending on lunch, drinks etc

Or at the very least get a Yolt account so you can easily visualise your spending and what direct debits and standing orders are upcoming, across your existing account(s)

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

I don’t understand that, yes it takes a while to actually show exactly what the money went on but it comes from my balance straight away and always shows as a pending transaction, same as it would if I used my pin.

Whattheheq There are a few banks (I'm looking at you, NatWest) that don't authorise contactless transactions straight away, unlike chip and PIN or Apple Pay/Google Pay/Samsung Pay transactions.

I volunteer visit quite a few older people and quite a few of them won't use cash machines or online shop. They wouldn't dream of contactless and given half a chance would love to be balancing their chequebook. You're not alone!

There are always a few late adopters when a new technology comes in. Inevitably the majority will get used to it. Cash is dying out. Chip and pin will too. Contactless and phones are taking over. Till the next new tech.

It is quicker and easier with contactless - for instance with public transport in London. But I guess people could go on buying a separate Oyster card! But why bother?

do you really thin cash is dying out? I'd say its majorly coming back in. Look at the self service check outs or exmple. Any that are card-only are often empty whilst the queue for the ones that take cash go right round the shop

@DonaldLovesDoritos

How does wanting to see exactly what you have, updated as quickly as possible, careless with money?

Well, that's not quite what I said, is it. What I said was that if it doesn't show up and you then mistakenly think you have more money than you do (because you have forgotten what transactions you've made so you don't know the balance isn't updated), that makes you careless with your finances.

If I was careless, I wouldn't bother to check my bank account, despite not having the best of finances

Depends. It sounds as though you're just checking the balance and not bothering to check your recent transactions.

But if I bought something for £5 here, something for £15 there, and something for £10 and £20 here and there again, I would easily lose track.

Well, you've answered your own question. If you would lose track of what you've spent so easily, that's fairly careless IMO.

I’m just shocked at how fucking bitchy some posters have been on this thread over wanting to pay for goods a certain way. To the extent that there are a couple of deletions too!?

OP I’m another who has stopped using contactless, as the payments don’t come off the available balance. Chip and pin transactions come off straight away.

I much prefer contactless to touching a bacteria ridden keypad but I'm a bit of a germphobe. My payments always seem to show up immediately.

I do find I have to check my bank account much more nowadays, one never knows if one's been robbed, back in the day statement used to come each month and there wasn't all the fraud and scams. You just paid with money or cheque and I'm sure it was so much easier and altogether less time consuming.

I use contactless a lot but it is quite difficult to keep track and I don't think its that secure.

Given the use by the OP of online banking, nothing wrong with not wanting to use contactless.

Cash might not be dying out but it is less popular, article below is from June this year:

"Earlier this month the banking industry body UK Finance said that debit card payments had overtaken cash as the most popular form of payment in the UK for the first time.

Consumers used their debit cards 13.2bn times last year, up 14% compared with 2016. The number of cash transactions fell by 15% to 13.1bn transactions in the same period."
www.theguardian.com/money/2018/jun/29/hundreds-of-cash-machines-close-as-uk-turns-to-contactless-payments

However, even in Sweden (where contactless is much more widely used than here) most people say they want to keep cash as a payment option: www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/03/being-cash-free-puts-us-at-risk-of-attack-swedes-turn-against-cashlessness

I had to pay cash in Wilko's last week as cards weren't working, lucky I had £15 on me as I had made a special trip to get something

back in the day statement used to come each month

Mine still do since that's what I asked my bank to do.

I stopped using Monzo as it debited £1 for a pay at pump transaction and took a week for the actual transaction to show up. My available funds weren’t showing as less the full amount of fuel. As a test I withdrew the full balance and was able to. I mailed monzo and asked what would happen when the fuel transaction cleared and they said I’d have gone overdrawn. I got a monzo card in the first place solely to stay right on top of my transactions, so the object was defeated!

I like Apple Pay as I don’t need to keep receipts and for social spending I now use Colu

I’ve Heard people say it takes about 3 days to show up but mine always comes off the available balance instantly. I use Apple Pay a lot as it’s more secure as it requires a thumb print or passcode to be used.

Clairetree1😂🤣 what planet do you live on

BBC Radio 4 ran a documentary last year or the year before outlining the same thing Clairetree is saying. I just got sent contactless card as standard (previously I'd had to enable it and I didn't) but I will be talking to the bank about refusing it. I want to be in control of all my transactions and not worry about it if it gets stolen. Each to their own.

I prefer oyster over contatcless. More control.

Look at the self service check outs or exmple. Any that are card-only are often empty whilst the queue for the ones that take cash go right round the shop

Never the case that I’ve seen.

I have had 2 fraudulent payments and my card cloned since having and using contactless. Fair enough the bank was very good about it. But I do check my bank balance every couple of days simply to check more money hasn't been stolen.

I keep on meaning to use chip and pin but just forget.

I always assumed that shops pushed contactless because it was cheaper than chip and pin for them to accept, especially for low value transactions that people used to mostly use cash for.