Contactless Credit cards - safe

[audreyh1]

Apple Pay, which is contactless, is the highest security payment method I have, and I love just having to put my Apple watch next to the terminal after selecting the card I wish to use on my watch.

Love the no pulling out anything, no signing! Retailer doesn’t get credit card info. Watch is credentialed by wearing it - you log in when you put it on and good until you take it off.

For contactless credit cards - I see more gas stations accepting them which is a big security and convenience improvement IMO.

 

[audreyh1]

Finally the mint will stop making pennies in 2023, so start hoarding them now to be able to make change

In Amsterdam which doesn’t use 1 cent coins anymore they just round to the nearest 5 cents.

 

[disneysteve]

Those little chips imbedded in the credit card, whether read by the merchant’s machine inside it or outside it, are vastly more secure than the old magnet strip method. One shouldn’t look at it as a hassle but a simple, major advance.

Exactly. They are safer and more secure along with being quicker and easier. What’s not to love? Tap and go.

 

[disneysteve]

They just didn't bring it here as the US is sooo slow to adopt new things, like dollar coins

I will never understand the appeal of dollar coins. I’ve spent time in Canada with their looney and twoney and it was a pain in the butt having a pocket filled with heavy coins. So much easier to have paper bills in my wallet.

Ultimately it doesn’t really matter at this point as I rarely use cash. I just tap my chip CC for everything.

 

[Sunset]

I will never understand the appeal of dollar coins. I’ve spent time in Canada with their looney and twoney and it was a pain in the butt having a pocket filled with heavy coins. So much easier to have paper bills in my wallet.

Ultimately it doesn’t really matter at this point as I rarely use cash. I just tap my chip CC for everything.

They tried to make up for it by getting rid of the useless penny.

Back in 2001 I used a US $1 coin at the grocery store. The clerk didn't know what it was, I had to tell her it was $1. Then she called over another clerk who recognized it.
She was then perplexed as there was no place in her cash drawer to put it.

Now I use a CC.

 

[scrabbler1]

They tried to make up for it by getting rid of the useless penny.

Back in 2001 I used a US $1 coin at the grocery store. The clerk didn't know what it was, I had to tell her it was $1. Then she called over another clerk who recognized it.
She was then perplexed as there was no place in her cash drawer to put it.

Now I use a CC.

You probably recall how the old "Susies" dollar coins from the late 1970s were a big flop because they looked so much like a quarter. They were silver colored and were about the same size as the quarter, causing much confusion. Other than vending machines, they were pretty much unusable.

A few years ago, I tried to use one at a supermarket, only to have the cashier claim it was a quarter. I had to show her it wasn't. And she was not some 20-something who wouldn't have been around back in the late 1970s. She was around my age, at least, in her 50s.

At least the Goldie coins produced recently with Sacagawea engraved on them didn't look like quarters. But they never seemed to gain much traction other than vending machines.

To make matters worse, one set of vending machines, the ones which dispense tickets for the Long Island Rail Road, gave out dollar coins as change but did not accept them (at least back then)!

 

[rk911]

Those little chips imbedded in the credit card, whether read by the merchant’s machine inside it or outside it, are vastly more secure than the old magnet strip method. One shouldn’t look at it as a hassle but a simple, major advance.

i get that...our cards are chipped. what i was getting at is the "contactless" type of readers. most if not all cards are chipped and that's all well and good but i fail to see the advantage of tapping vs inserting the card into the reader.

 

[statsman]

i get that...our cards are chipped. what i was getting at is the "contactless" type of readers. most if not all cards are chipped and that's all well and good but i fail to see the advantage of tapping vs inserting the card into the reader.

Agreed.

 

[HarveyS]

Contactless prevents card skimming. Much, much safer.
A credit card skimming device reads the magnetic stripe on your credit or debit card when you slide it into a card reader at an ATM, gas pump or other point of sale. The skimmer then stores the card number, expiration date and cardholder's name. These stripes even appear on chip-enabled cards.
I've had a card skimmed from a ticket vending machine in Frankfurt airport. Lots of reports of skimmers at gas stations in the USA also.

 

[Chuckanut]

i get that...our cards are chipped. what i was getting at is the "contactless" type of readers. most if not all cards are chipped and that's all well and good but i fail to see the advantage of tapping vs inserting the card into the reader.

Here's my story about how tapping saved me while traveling.

We were in a foreign country and decided to buy the 4 day Transit Pass so we could make good use the city's subway system. Alas, some jerk had pushed gum or some other gooey stuff into the CC slot and the cash slot. I was dismayed. Now, a long wait in line to buy the pass was ahead of me. But, then I noticed the tap icon. So I tried the tap, and it worked. Out came two transit passes. At least an hour saved.

 

[audreyh1]

Contactless prevents card skimming. Much, much safer.
A credit card skimming device reads the magnetic stripe on your credit or debit card when you slide it into a card reader at an ATM, gas pump or other point of sale. The skimmer then stores the card number, expiration date and cardholder's name. These stripes even appear on chip-enabled cards.
I've had a card skimmed from a ticket vending machine in Frankfurt airport. Lots of reports of skimmers at gas stations in the USA also.

Yep!

Now if we could just get servers to bring the contactless terminal to the table so we can stop handing over our credit cards in the US! I haven’t been inside a restaurant in so long (almost 2 years) that I almost forgot about this annoying security problem. The couple of times I called in for takeout they brought a CC terminal to the car with my order.

 

[braumeister]

Lots of reports of skimmers at gas stations in the USA also.

That has been problematic in my part of the country, and there have been a number of cases of skimmers found in ATMs at banks as well.

 

[disneysteve]

i get that...our cards are chipped. what i was getting at is the "contactless" type of readers. most if not all cards are chipped and that's all well and good but i fail to see the advantage of tapping vs inserting the card into the reader.

If nothing else, it’s faster. You don’t need to insert your card and wait for it to say to remove it. That’s enough advantage to me.

Of course you’re also not touching stuff that every other customer has touched if you care about that.

Faster and cleaner. Two advantages.

 

[4legsgood]

I so far have found contactless annoying because I have to wait for the checker to have done something before I tap the card, "Ok, can I tap now?". I prefer immediately putting the card in the card reader, and then daydreaming or people watch, or look at phone until chip reader beeps at me.

Whether it's more or less safe than chip card processing I don't know, either for covid or cyber theft, but I would guess minimal difference.

 

[steelyman]

I rarely use the physical cards now. It’s much easier to tap to pay if your phone supports it.

I always get a receipt and place it in my old style wallet but I don’t fish out the card from there for payment (I do carry them just in case).

 

[disneysteve]

I so far have found contactless annoying because I have to wait for the checker to have done something before I tap the card, "Ok, can I tap now?". I prefer immediately putting the card in the card reader, and then daydreaming or people watch, or look at phone until chip reader beeps at me.
.

That varies by store. At the grocery store I can tap as soon as the cashier starts to ring up my order and I’m done. Other places I can’t tap or insert until they’re done the transaction.

 

[indiajust]

much more secure than doing a swipe, because swipe data is not encrypted. Safest bet is with apple pay. no physical card to video and no unencrypted data to steal.

 

[Out of Steam]

I'm far more comfortable with using contactless payment at gas pumps than inserting a card.

 

[Sunset]

Tapping is safer than inserting.

From Visa:

https://usa.visa.com/pay-with-visa/contactless-payments/contactless-payments.html#:~:text=Tapping%20to%20pay%20uses%20short-range%20wireless%20technology%20to,Contactless%20Symbol%2C%20your%20payment%20is%20sent%20for%20authorization.

"Tapping to pay with your Visa contactless chip card or payment-enabled mobile/wearable device is a secure way to pay because each transaction generates a transaction-specific, one-time code, that is extremely effective in reducing counterfeit fraud."

 

[TheWizard]

Contactless is fine and secure; I use it all the time.
If your phone supports Near Field Communication, like my Pixel 5 does, you can setup credit card payments using Apple Pay or Google Pay rather than getting out the card itself. (The payment procedure is the same.)

And when in London, you can use your contactless card or smartphone to pay for your rides on the Tube/Underground, tapping in and tapping out with the same device...

 

[rk911]

If nothing else, it’s faster. You don’t need to insert your card and wait for it to say to remove it. That’s enough advantage to me.

Of course you’re also not touching stuff that every other customer has touched if you care about that.

Faster and cleaner. Two advantages.

i'm retired...a few extra seconds is not a big deal. neither is touching stuff. YMMV.

 

[pb4uski]

... But does that then mean you cannot insert the card, you MUST BE contactless?

Mine can be used contactless or inserted. You're overthinking it.

 

[pb4uski]

Thank you. I am still annoyed they just force this crap on me but maybe I will give it a try at least.

I actually like it... a couple seconds quicker... when it works.

 

[6miths]

We've been touchless in Canada for a few years now and I love it. We were chip and PIN for a few years before that. The contactless has been great with Covid and also great at the gas station, especially in the winter!

 

[Closet_Gamer]

We use them in London nearly exclusively unless the purchase is over the limit.

We keep our cards in a little RF blockers (either a wallet designed that way or little sleeves) because in theory if you're on a tightly packed tube someone can simple put a card reader next to your purse/pocket and try to draw a contactless payment from it.

I'm not sure if that a real risk or not.