People who don’t carry their bank cards with them

[Auburngal]

I was in Sainsbury’s this morning and systems are down. No contactless, chip n pin taking ages to go through. Unable to buy gift cards, mobile top up vouchers.

Systems going down like this happen not very often but when they do it’s awful.

On the self scan next to me a woman screamed at the manager on why she can’t pay on her mobile.

Why do many people don’t carry their bank cards anymore? The cards don’t weigh much. Plus if the contactless payment system goes down, hopefully their card will go through via chip n pin. Also they won’t look like idiots either. No sympathy for these.

Regarding contactless payments- sometimes your bank, NOT the retailer etc asks you to do a CnP payment as part of security. “I dunno my PIN”. You can change your PIN to any number you want (not 1234, 1111) at any ATM under PIN services.

do you work in an A and E department?

I don’t carry my bank card. I rarely use a bag when I go out and I tend to just stick my phone in my pocket. I don’t want to risk a loose bank card falling out of my pocket. I usually have change in my car if needs be or I look at my DP and he has to pull out his card.

I’m probably being a total idiot here, but can contactless be used with you phone via Apple Wallet?

I always take my bank card out and use contactless payments by scanning my card.

One downside of cash is if your purse is lost or stolen and has cash in it - you can forget about getting it back.

If your card was stolen and was used. Ring the bank and say what was one of the last transactions you made. The sooner you contact the bank the sooner your old card is blocked and the quicker any fraudulent transactions are refunded.

I’m staggered at all the people who seem to think that encountering any of the things I mentioned is extreme. Do some people never go beyond the end of their road?

I pay with my watch these days and it’s a total game changer as I don’t even need to get my phone out of my pocket (and then risk sitting it down and forgetting it which has happened). Times change and bank cards are old fashioned, for one of my bank accounts my card is totally virtual, no actual card exists.

Cards on your phone with Apple wallet are exactly the same as using the card. They have the same NFC chip in them.

Oh, you think you’re so important that someone is actually sat listening to your conversations 🫢 haha! Ookkkk…. I’ll leave you a pack of tinfoil to make your hat with 😉

And no, I didn’t. I’ve already clarified what I meant by that.

Yes, it can. OP was talking about what happened when they were at Sainsbury’s when contactless was down and chip and pin was taking awhile to go through.

Yet, I would guess most people if they didn’t have time to wait, would have left regardless if they had their phone or their card if the chip and pin was taking too long for them.

My bank card declined when trying to buy a ticket for the bus yesterday so I used my Apple Wallet, paying with the same bank card and it worked.

I’m mind blown 🤯

I’ve only ever used my phone to pay for something in a physical shop once via Apple Pay (I think it was in Costa) and it felt so weird.

I think that's it, their lives are quite routine and low risk and the consequences of not having means to pay will be limited.

I'm in emergency planning and also have hobbies where if it goes wrong, you die.

Therefore its second nature to me to never rely on a single point of failure and always to have a back up.

I worked a bit in a café uses by lots of cyclists who didn't carry any more than they absolutely needed. Lots used Apple pay because they all carried a phone.

Don't speak for me, i dont find cash more convenient

I fact checked this and it’s actually £1.2m adults without bank accounts. Which is higher than I expected but is declining each year. i don’t know how it’s possible to function without a bank account.

Oh, sweetheart; it's a statistic, therefore a generalisation. I wasn't 'speaking for you'.

Apologies for the error; that is, however, my point. People can't function without a bank account unless cash use continues..

...and useful, simple and convenient for the rest of us.

This bit wasn't a statistic.

'The rest of us', by its nature, refers to everybody who wasn't previously referred to as being somebody without a bank account ('them'). Cash isn't necessarily convenient for everybody in the 'us' umbrella.

No, of course not; you're absolutely right.

And now Greggs' payment systems are down. Endemic this last week!

😂😂😂

Thanks for the attempted insult, but “our” lives are not always routine or low risk, we are just able to differentiate between situations that have low levels of risk and those that have risk of death and plan appropriately. One size does not fit all, and it’s important to have the skill to assess situations case by case.

I have both high and low risk hobbies and have a role in an emergency service where my life is often at risk.

It’s funny actually, I just realised - you know what’s worse than turning up to a shop with no bank card? What’s caused me more inconvenience? Forgetting a fucking CARRIER BAG! 😂

That’s how often Apple Pay has failed me - practically never, and only when a card would also have failed.

It's an anonymous forum so you don't know who anyone is.........

No shit. But trying to justify your tinfoil hat attitude by suggesting you’re famous and interesting made me chuckle.

It clearly doesn’t put actual celebs off, and anytime I’ve heard stories of celebs being stalked or harassed it’s by an actual weird human, not as a result of big tech’s standard operating systems.

People will need to get bank accounts. It's a basic requirement of modern society. I appreciate some will genuinely be incapable, i.e. serious mental health issues, but they'd probably struggle to manage cash too, so need support in everyday life in lots of aspects. As the years pass, there'll be fewer and fewer very old people (say 90 plus) who had their working life at a time when people were paid in cash and paid bills etc in cash, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. But for anyone younger, they must have been living under a rock, as bank accounts, credit cards, etc., were pretty normal back in the 80s, which is over 40 years ago! There are simple/basic bank accounts for those with poor credit history who are excluded from "normal" bank accounts. I suppose homeless people may struggle to get any form of bank account without a postal address and ID documents, etc. But the number of people who genuinely have reasons for not having a bank account or a dedicated carer to look after their lifestyle aspects, will be a lot lower than the figures for people without an account as most of them will be for less genuine reasons, i.e. can't be bothered, don't trust banks, tin hat brigade, tax/benefit fraudsters, criminals, etc.

I think it was HSBC offering bank accounts for homeless people. Not sure if any other bank does.