Vocal Voices

Is it another step towards a cashless society? Who knows?

There are all sorts of arguments for or against the move, from the ease to make bigger purchases without using credit cards, to fears of fraud and stolen cards. They are all relevant. As the owner of such a card I am not totally against the new limit - each to their own - but running parallel with it I would like to see the option for owners of contactless cards to set their own limits.

My personal limit would be about £30 as that is my average spend, and I bet many parents who are trying to teach their children to spend responsibly will baulk at the idea of a £100 a go spending spree.

I would agree, personal limit in the banking app, up to £100.

Also.recommendations for contactless protection shields/wallets/purses might be useful.

My bank forces you to enter your pin the fourth contact less purchase. Whilst irritating it does limit the damage of a stolen card.

Interesting - when are they starting that?

I agree that the ability to set your own limit up to £100 would be a useful idea; I would probably adopt £50 personally, no more. The increase from £30 to £45 has been very useful in the Covid era as I can usually wangle the supermarket shopping bill to just below that (it did come out at £45.01 two weeks back! ) and it has helped me reduce the number of visits I'm making - it has also been helpful as the ancient, worn card-readers in Waitrose fail 75% of the time to read my ancient, worn bank card's pin number which is a tad embarrasing ....

I would say I've usually been directed to put a pin number in around every 6 transactions or so? Funnily enough, it's invariably in Iceland where this happens; I don't know if that's sheer coincidence or not.

Not sure Ossie but my card has a right old flip out in the Co Op down on the main road. I often have to use chip and pin rather than contactless and their in store ATM isn’t keen on it either (not that I use it often but Tom prefers cash rather than a bank transfer at Christmas and birthdays).

Jo, D's card does that on one of the tills in Sainsbury's According to the cashier, cards from that particular bank often do! Luckily she can avoid it.

I use my card for everything, apart from anything else I think it's unfair for the shop assistants to have to handle cash during a pandemic. I would be happy with a £100 limit. My bank sounds similar to Ossie's and Suffs - every so many transactions it asks for chip & pin. As a security measure I think it's reassuring.

TheOstrich wrote:Interesting - when are they starting that?

'Later in the year' is all we know, so far.

As for the PIN entering.... I had wondered why every so often the contactless was refused and I had to enter a PIN... I thought it might be a faulty reader. It's a good job I carry t'PIN around in my head.

Jo, I'm with Tom re transactions at known busy shopping periods: Xmas / Black Fridays and so on.

Contactless can be handy but is a dream come true for petty thieves. A limit on both the amount you can spend and the number of times you can use contactless before having to use your pin is essential.

Frank, it’s not transactions with him - it’s when we’re giving him money as a present, he wants cold, hard cash

Interesting point. Since pubs started taking cards and even market stalls, my need for cold hard cash has waned to the verges of destruction. In reality most of the places I want to use exceptional money, like gift cards, are not places that take cash.

JoM wrote:Frank, it’s not transactions with him - it’s when we’re giving him money as a present, he wants cold, hard cash