3 ms·

Swipe is very rare in the UK - Chip & Pin is the norm, at least it used to be. Contactless cards were introduced relatively recently, where you just tap and go

by asib 11y ago

Swipe is very rare in the UK - Chip & Pin is the norm, at least it used to be. Contactless cards were introduced relatively recently, where you just tap and go - no verification required (as such there's a limit on the amount you can pay using contactless). These are very speedy, I think more so than Apple pay, and are becoming increasingly popular. In London (and possibly other places in the UK, I'm unsure) they have actually integrated contactless card readers into public transport, meaning you can hop on a bus/tube and pay for the journey with your card. Essentially, you can carry around a single card to commute, buy your lunch, go shopping and everything else.

jaddison 11y ago
Chip & Pin and Contactless are commonplace in Canada as well at stores. Not all have it, but most get it as they upgrade their systems.
Nullabillity 11y ago
Honestly, contactless cards, and this push to merge a few of the cards, kind of terrify me. I already carry around my driver's license. I already carry around the access card to my school. I already carry around my student ID. I already carry around 3 different library cards. I already carry around my public transport card. I already carry around my debit card. I already carry around cash. Even if you remove a few of those I still need to carry my wallet with me, so what difference does it make? I mean, other than the loss of separation of identities that comes with the territory. It's fine that my public transport card has low security, because you can't cash it out easily, and it only carries a very limited value anyway. Neither of those apply to my debit card.
- davnicwil 11y ago
  But with a pretty low limit on daily spend with the contactless card, it effectively has limited value too - assuming you'd cancel it within 24 hours of it being lost or stolen in most cases - and is therefore difficult to 'cash out' on for a thief. So actually both do apply to your contactless debit card, really. Actually there's likely more incentive to pickpocket a wallet for its cash contents, rather than the contactless card(s), given in a lot of wallets this will be both greater and, by definition of course, easier to cash out on! So it seems like carrying contactless cards doesn't add any particular incentive for theft above what has existed forever with carrying cash. Also, any other security vulnerabilities with the debit card, unrelated to contactless, still exist exactly as they do today. So, it seems to me that merging cards, i.e. adding contactless and the ability to use it for transport, and other things, seems to just add marginal convenience with essentially no added risk of theft or fraud[1]. So yes, it's not a life-changing technology and it won't mean you no longer have to carry a wallet, but it represents a small win and certainly a step improvement for everyday convenience, so that's good right? I for one simply think the fewer cards I have to carry, the better, to be honest. [1] though I have, to be fair, heard about the issue of thieves 'skimming' contactless cards in people's pockets, I don't know if that was always just a scare story or if it's actually a real exploitable vulnerability - but this seems likely to be a pretty far-flung edge case anyway.

by asib 11y ago

jaddison 11y ago

Chip & Pin and Contactless are commonplace in Canada as well at stores. Not all have it, but most get it as they upgrade their systems.

Nullabillity 11y ago

Honestly, contactless cards, and this push to merge a few of the cards, kind of terrify me. I already carry around my driver's license. I already carry around the access card to my school. I already carry around my student ID. I already carry around 3 different library cards. I already carry around my public transport card. I already carry around my debit card. I already carry around cash. Even if you remove a few of those I still need to carry my wallet with me, so what difference does it make? I mean, other than the loss of separation of identities that comes with the territory. It's fine that my public transport card has low security, because you can't cash it out easily, and it only carries a very limited value anyway. Neither of those apply to my debit card.

davnicwil 11y ago
But with a pretty low limit on daily spend with the contactless card, it effectively has limited value too - assuming you'd cancel it within 24 hours of it being lost or stolen in most cases - and is therefore difficult to 'cash out' on for a thief. So actually both do apply to your contactless debit card, really. Actually there's likely more incentive to pickpocket a wallet for its cash contents, rather than the contactless card(s), given in a lot of wallets this will be both greater and, by definition of course, easier to cash out on! So it seems like carrying contactless cards doesn't add any particular incentive for theft above what has existed forever with carrying cash. Also, any other security vulnerabilities with the debit card, unrelated to contactless, still exist exactly as they do today. So, it seems to me that merging cards, i.e. adding contactless and the ability to use it for transport, and other things, seems to just add marginal convenience with essentially no added risk of theft or fraud[1]. So yes, it's not a life-changing technology and it won't mean you no longer have to carry a wallet, but it represents a small win and certainly a step improvement for everyday convenience, so that's good right? I for one simply think the fewer cards I have to carry, the better, to be honest. [1] though I have, to be fair, heard about the issue of thieves 'skimming' contactless cards in people's pockets, I don't know if that was always just a scare story or if it's actually a real exploitable vulnerability - but this seems likely to be a pretty far-flung edge case anyway.