'Tap & go' bullshit on cards

[Blue Ginger]

In Oz, like most countries, our banks have introduced 'tap & go' functions on all their atm cards and credit cards. No more pin required if the purchase is under a certain amount. I can understand that it is fantastic for those that want it. However, I feel it is a massive risk and have had a few too many people have their wallets stolen and cards used before they have noticed.

I'm currently an unemployed uni student which means my funds are really limited. As in I have barely anything left after I pay my rent. That means if my cards get stolen or cloned, I'm fucked. It can take up to 3 weeks to get your money back from most banks.

The bank I have most of my accounts with took less that 1 minute to disable the tap and go feature on my atm/eftpos card. The bank my parents use took overnight to disable it after less then 1 minute with a teller. It was the same with their credit card bank and the bank my sister uses.

The bank I have my credit card with have refused to disable the option. They won't even lower the amount down to next to nothing. It is stuck on $500. That is half of my rent for a month. And there is also no limit on the amount of transactions that can be tapped each day. (My daily limit has been lowered, but I'm not able to lower it enough to be happy.)

Basically, 3 of the big 4 banks can, and will, disable this extra feature. Unfortunately, my credit card is with the 1 stupid bank that claims it's not possible.

As soon as my sister finally pays off her wedding costs that went on my card, I am getting rid of it.

[s_stabeler]

I find it useful, but a) the limit is £30 per transaction, so it's harder for criminals to drain the account before I can stop the card b) my bank is good at catching fraud before I am aware of it c) if I reported the card lost, it would be blocked immediately- as in, before I got off the phone to report the card lost.

[Dreamstalker]

That function is something I'd never use (if I'm tapping the card I have it on my person anyway, so it's just as easy to insert in a reader).

Chip credit cards should be using passive RFID similar to our transit cards--the power is provided by the reader itself and only at a near-contact distance (so they can't be compromised/cloned as easily as there is no signal to sniff).