Have you discovered Pay-Wave and Fast-Pay?
And have you thought that waiting an additional 30 seconds to pay cash or sign an approval slip might just be better than waving your 'drastic fantastic plastic' past a machine which deducts money without confirmation or receipts required??
As of the weekend - all transactions using Visa, Mastercard and America Express under $35 no longer need you to sign or enter a pin. Some businesses have this operating to accept purchases up to $100. Apparently this makes for quicker service, but I am not sure I like this new policy. Seriously, how long does entering a pin or adding a signature take. Does it mean if you lost your Pay-Wave enabled credit card, it would be so easy for the finder to rack up lots of purchases less than $35 before you had even realised it had gone.
Coles do it, KMart does it ~ even McDonalds do it. I think what annoys me most is the shifting of responsibilty. I pay fees (sometimes) and interest to have a credit card and now it is my responsibility to ensure it is in my possession at all times and that nobody can swipe it to charge a zillion $34.95 purchaser. What happened to businesses ensuring it is me using my card (PIN or signature).
Fair enough if an individual was to choose to participate (which is what I thought the other pay pass thingo was all about - the one for under $100 purchases) but for Coles to have made a unilateral decision that staff are not going to ask me if I wanted to use a pin for a purchase anymore ~ well I am a little annoyed about this 'advancement'!
National Australia Bank (NAB), do not allow its customers to opt out of having payWave-enabled Visa cards. Apparently it is the same for Mastercard's contact-less payment systems. Customers who are unhappy with the way payWave permits transactions without the requirement for either PIN or signature have been advised to refrain from having a Visa card attached to their account. And that works how?
Personally, even the advertisement on television showing the frustration caused by a person inconveniencing others by paying cash instead of just flashing the card past the machine to pay for lunch seems to be more a human intervention into a robotic environment. I don't like it and don't wish to participate. Why is life becoming more frantic, fast and fan-dangled. Not all advancements seem to allow us time to relax.
Be it right or wrong, I have scratched through my chip so I can only swipe my card to use it through eftpos systems and will need to sign on all occasions. As I have not opted into the PIN aspect of my credit card this does not phase me.
I apologise in advance for the poor sods who will be standing behind me at the checkout for an additional minute or so while the check out operator must print out a receipt for me to then sign. I promise to have a working black ink pen with me at all times to speed up the process by a few seconds.
At least I know I wont be required to purchase a new credit card holder to ensure my card won't be swiped when these new NFC (Near Field Communication) enabled iphones hit the market. That will mean you can read your RFID card code into your phone, and the new wave of electronic pickpocketers won't be able to get my credit card information.
Now to get Husband on board and scratching his chip...
Moving Madness
Well ~ just had our first 'blow out'. As the car has done around 300,000kms we decided getting new suspension as we will be towing a campervan for a good 3000km. $2600 and it has totally wiped us out. We are so travelling on the smell of an oily rag - and we need it to be petrol!
It's been a real achievement to ensure our shopping has remained under $25 each week for the past six weeks. We have all the amenities bill up to date or in credit - so we can at least get some dollars back when we get into QLD.
Still need to organise car and van insurance ~ get the landlord insurance activated ~ transfer the VOIP phone and internet transferred and cancel all the power, phone and other such standards. Oh boy its going to be a full on last week! Thankfully we have two to go :D
Chat soon friends ~ hopefully I'll be able to be back in the next day or so.
I agree with you on the pay wave. Luckily neither of my cards work that way ( I think).
ReplyDeleteI no longer have a credit card. It's best for everyone that way.
ReplyDeleteWow, I hadn't paid much attention to these as I do not have a credit card. I do think it is really dodgy that a dropped card can be used so readily by someone else. Not to mention it increases the temptation for people to steal wallets and purses with an increased chance that there will be such easy access to $35. That affects everyone, not just people with a card.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people use debit cards which are not affected (apparently). Like Leah, will this increase snatch & grabs in the hope of gaining access to a credit card to use?
ReplyDelete