Contactless cards

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@ChargedUp wrote:

Of all my contactless cards, my Savor seems to work the best/easiest while my CFU seems to be the most difficult to get the contactless signal into the receiver. Both my Amex cards are contactless and seem to work decently as well. Walmart gives me the most problems when attempting contactless payments whether with card (especially Amex Gold for some reason) or Samsung Pay. I've gotten errant declines multiple times and I just use the chip when I'm there to avoid the headache. 7-Eleven terminals seem to work the best and strangely they have the same Ingenico terminals.

I'd say close to 90% of the merchants that have a customer interface terminal over here accept contactless, but I am in Silicon Valley... Even most of the little hole-in-the-wall shops seem to accept it.

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Wait, Walmart accepts contactless now?

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+1... if they do, that's news to me as well.

I'll also add that using Samsung Pay (via MST) at Walmart is always janky when paying with Amex... it always declines on the first try.  If I try it a second time it will (usually) work, but no matter what that first attempt is a 'hard' decline regardless of what Amex I use, including my Propel.  FWIW others on various Samsung forums have reported the same experience.

Sorry for the hijack; I actually discussed the Samsung Pay/Walmart issue over on the Samsung Pay thread in Personal Finance.

[Anonymous]

One point not mentioned in this thread is that chips can physically wear out, which many probably remember happening frequently to the magnetic stripes of eras past.  I've had two cards that just stopped working in the chip readers and had to be swiped.

I'd guess that NFC chips and their cards should last for the duration of the time period of the card.

Fun is traveling in Europe with a chip card, and merchants trying to tap it to the handheld readers before realizing they are holding ancient card and need to insert it.

I've been using Google Pay since 2015.  All my cards work with Google Pay except my Capital One GM Card and my Target RedCard.

[Anonymous]

EMV card readers also get dirty and can fail. Happened to a family member. To save time I ended up using my contactless card at the terminal. 

Just a real life example of a EMV card reader failing and contactless being a non issue  

[zerofire]

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@j615 wrote:
I love using contactless cards and Apple Pay.

One thing though, is it just me or does the Amex Gold (metal) contactless harder to use? With most terminals, I need to put more effort before it accepts the card. With my plastic cards, it’s easy. It’s like the contactless signal is very low on this card. Maybe because of the metal.

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Metal cards will have a distorting effect on the signal from the antenna. The distorted signal will then become noise to the little remaining signal. Most cards including AmEx cards are designed to be used in close proximity of 1cm or less. Lastly make sure you are using the card properly by making contact with the front or back and not one of the sharp edges. You will not believe how many people I have seen make that hiccup.

@Anonymous wrote:

I'm not sure if this is worth a brand new thread but I just got a replacement Citi AAdvantage card with contactless. Might be worth requesting replacements if you have any other cards from them. 

Note that you have to insert the card at least once before contactless will actually work. ("At least" because there's a possibility that it has to be somewhere that doesn't do Quick Chip. I'm not sure if that's the case, however.) This is something Citi doesn't mention and definitely should mention somewhere in the future, lest people give up on contactless after having it not work a few times.

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That is interesting. I was pretty sure that only the Citi Costco Anywhere Visa was the only one that had NFC. After a little research it seams that the Citi Rewards+ also has it but it is brand new. Are you sure you have NFC built into your card? Is it a MasterCard or a Visa?

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[Anonymous]

@Anonymous wrote:

I'm not sure if this is worth a brand new thread but I just got a replacement Citi AAdvantage card with contactless. Might be worth requesting replacements if you have any other cards from them. 

Note that you have to insert the card at least once before contactless will actually work. ("At least" because there's a possibility that it has to be somewhere that doesn't do Quick Chip. I'm not sure if that's the case, however.) This is something Citi doesn't mention and definitely should mention somewhere in the future, lest people give up on contactless after having it not work a few times.

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That is interesting. I was pretty sure that only the Citi Costco Anywhere Visa was the only one that had NFC. After a little research it seams that the Citi Rewards+ also has it but it is brand new. Are you sure you have NFC built into your card? Is it a MasterCard or a Visa?

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Yep, AAdvantage MC. Has the symbol on the back and everything.

[staticvoidmain]

In case anybody wants to see a list of contactless cards:

EMV CVM Database

[Anonymous]

I got a replacement Double Cash card a few days ago and that came as a contactless. Currently waiting for a PC to kick in to turn it into a Dividend, it'll be interesting to see if that's been updated as well.

I requested the replacement via the website due to a prior replacement for wear getting lost in the mail, in case that dp is useful.

[barthooper]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I got a replacement Double Cash card a few days ago and that came as a contactless. Currently waiting for a PC to kick in to turn it into a Dividend, it'll be interesting to see if that's been updated as well.

I requested the replacement via the website due to a prior replacement for wear getting lost in the mail, in case that dp is useful.

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Darn. I needed/requested a new one because the chip kept failing to be read and this was only 2 months ago and it's not contactless. Must have just barely missed it. Oh well. Double Cash won't be my daily anymore since axing the benefits and I've changed my CSR into a Freedom Unlimited which will be contactless.

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I got a replacement Double Cash card a few days ago and that came as a contactless. Currently waiting for a PC to kick in to turn it into a Dividend, it'll be interesting to see if that's been updated as well.

I requested the replacement via the website due to a prior replacement for wear getting lost in the mail, in case that dp is useful.

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This is a great data point. 

For micro-purchases I much prefer the speed of tapping rather than messing with the chip, and since it doesn't look like USAA will be offering contactless anytime soon a contactless Double Cash is the next best thing.

Thanks for sharing!

[Anonymous]

And another CC that has contactless - you guessed it - Credit One.

Their Platinum $39 Annual Fee, 24-day grace period after close of billing cycle CC.

Was a bit surprised.