Vocal Voices

This is to be applied from October.

I have been reading comments in other places and there are not many in favour of the move. Many fear a rise in muggings, thefts and pick pocketing. Then there are those who would like to set their own limit below the maximum or to set a limit on the number of transactions before a PIN is required - some banks already do this.

My shopping habits changed when the bank started automatically issuing contactless cards. I was never keen on the idea so always carried cash, just as always. With contactless I had a rejig and got a pre-pay debit / credit card. For financial purposes my wallet now only holds a few notes £20 - £30 and the pre pay card. The card is only connected to my account with the issuer and I can top up anything from £10 any time I like using online banking from home. I also have a "blocking" card to prevent anyone with a remote reader walking past and taking a 'payment'.

If I get mugged they only get a few notes and whatever is left on the card. All my other cards stay tucked away at home unless I need one for a specific purpose - very rare.

My view is that there are pros and cons for different users with this move. I also think that it is another step on the way to a cashless society, which I am against. I suggest that you all have a think about this move and how it will affect you and your family before it happens. You might well need to make a few changes.

I'm sorry they are going to do this - I don't believe it is necessary. I'd agree with you that they are trying, ultimately, to eliminate cash as a payment media. I don't think, however, this will happen in my lifetime, thank goodness.

I think we will definitely see more cases of fraud and higher financial losses. My query would be who is going to pay for these - the cardholder or the bank? We all know the banks are doing everything they can to shuffle off responsibility.

Your suggestion that we should have the ability to set our own contactless limits is a good one, and I'd like to see this. I'd be thinking in terms of £50, personally*.

The pre-pay debit/credit cards are again a good idea, but how many people will want the faff of the regular topping-up exercise? I'm still not entirely comfortable with on-line banking, only use it when there's no other alternative, and I'm sure I'm not the only bunny in the woods who feels the same.

As for rethinking how I might operate financially, I have a contactless credit card for an account where the credit limit is comparatively low. I think I will finish up using this much more regularly, and leaving my contactless debit cards at home rather than carry them with me, to mitigate any "mugging/remote reading" etc losses. I might then even opt for non-contactless debit cards, which I think the banks still issue.

So basically, I agree with all you've posted, WM.

*In one way, contactless is very useful. I still walk around with around £100 worth of cash, that's largely backup because all of my cards have a history of being spasmodically rejected by the crappy card-readers at Waitrose if I exceed the contactless limit. As you'll know from other threads, my solution here has been to change my shopping habits and only use Waitrose when I have to, and certainly not in excess of £45. But that's obviously my problem and not universal; nevertheless, I'm not in any mood to go back to doing full weekly shopping at Waitrose (or anywhere), even if the contactless limit rises to £100. I'd rather visit two supermarkets and have two smaller bills these days. That's why I could cheerfully set my personal contactless limit at just £50.

Re fraud - we all pay, all except the banks.

Faff v security?

I go in to the pre pay site, whenever. Press Top up. Set the amount and press Continue. Enter the three digit security code for my actual debit card and press Continue. Wait a few seconds for the transaction to go through and press Done. A few minutes max.

Things are changing, Ossie, I am just flagging up a few things to help people stay safe with the change, as you are with the credit card thing. Things could go horribly wrong for some people, so better to be safe than sorry.

Lloyds ask for your pin every so many transactions. I am happy with contactless, but dont see the need to increase it further. I think the current £45 level is fine.

I am not against contactless, but my limit would be £30. It is not as though the card is borked at that limit, you just have to enter a PIN for bigger purchases - just like before.

Having a limit of £100 and a user limit daily of, say, three leaves a user open to £300 of transactions - it could be more. That could leave some users in serious problems.

Just let the card users set the pay limit and number of uses to input a PIN; the technology is there, let's use it.

Mine 'contactless' would be 3 x £30 per day.

If my purchase is £67.33 and I have to enter a PIN it is not exactly an onerous task, is it?

TheOstrich wrote:I'm sorry they are going to do this - I don't believe it is necessary. I'd agree with you that they are trying, ultimately, to eliminate cash as a payment media. I don't think, however, this will happen in my lifetime, thank goodness.

Funny that this has come up. Yesterday MrsC and I were in a multi-storey car park; unbeknownst to us it had recently changed over from cash payment to card. Comes the time to pay before we leave and there is a confused throng milling around the card machine. These are mainly but by no means entirely elderly people who have no idea how to pay.

You could actually still pay cash, but you had to descend into the lowest level of the shopping centre to do so. Problem, only one lift is working and there is a throng of young mums with pushchairs and disabled people using the lift to come up. So lots of people not in the first flush of youth had to go down - and back up - multiple flights of stairs to pay cash. People were looking over Mrsc's shoulder to copy what she did to pay.

And I do agree, business is wanting to get rid of cash. Much easier for them I suppose. Not so good for the low paid like waitresses who depend on tips though.
If I may briefly mount my well worn soapbox, we are being pushed into a digital world where it is much easier to control people. It will be far more authoritarian and far less free; hopefully I won't see too much of it.

Yesterday MrsC and I were in a multi-storey car park .....

There is some concern about this down here, Crommers. Dorset County Council have recently been quizzed on social media about council car park payment methods (prices are due to rise in the new year, in some cases swingeingly near coastal beauty spots) and they have said that cash payment will still be an option.

As an aside, I refuse to use any car park where you have to input your car registration number into a machine. I can never remember what it is these days .....

And on another front....

We now learn that during the pandemic some 8,000+ ATMs have been removed or permanently turned off and nearly 900 bank branches have closed. Locally we lost NatWest and Lloyds. Apparently 47% of remaining ATMs now charge for withdrawals.

Soon the only place to get hard cash will be when you pay at the supermarket and have it added to your bill.

At the car park I used to use you stop at the barrier and press for a ticket. There is a flash and out comes your ticket with the registration and time printed across the middle. You pay on the way out to the nearest 20 minute slot - in their favour, obviously. In Birmingham centre the street meters do not take cards or cash it is all done via an app and I steadfastly reuse apps for payments or banking of any sort. This means that I use Snow Hill multi-storey which only takes £1 coins and you have to pre-pay in blocks of X hours - 2, 4, 6, 9..... If you are a few minutes late you have to get another 2 hours on your ticket.

Tesco have stopped"cashback" when you pay for your shopping .Morrison's may have as well not sure.Don't think Asda do it either

I'm very old fashioned I only like cash
I do use a credit card to shop one line
But it's driving me mad over this extra security
Thing of sending a text message with a code
I don't have a mobile and my landline ,
Isent always acknowledge
If never ever used a card in a shop or taken money from a machine terrified of them
Sigh cash cash cash