Contactless vs Dual Interface

Anonymous · ‎07-17-2016

Are all Amex contactless cards dual interface? I just read through all of the other threads I could find and could not see the distinction.

The reason I ask is that I just got off the phone with Amex to have them send me a C+S +Contactless card. The CSR simply referred to it as contactless, so I'm not sure if that should be a concern.

Also, I see from other posts that even getting the right card can be a nightmare for some. Any idea if they have improved this?

One other question....I typically use the card for groceries which can be $150 or more. I keep reading about caps on how much a transaction can be when conducted this way. Anyone have issues using the tap feature for groceries or larger charges?

PS-I see there is another thread on contactless cards, but didn't want to distract from that posters questions with my own. Apologies if I should have posted there.

Thanks,

Brad

Themanwhocan · ‎07-17-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Are all Amex contactless cards dual interface? I just read through all of the other threads I could find and could not see the distinction.

The reason I ask is that I just got off the phone with Amex to have them send me a C+S +Contactless card. The CSR simply referred to it as contactless, so I'm not sure if that should be a concern.

Also, I see from other posts that even getting the right card can be a nightmare for some. Any idea if they have improved this?

One other question....I typically use the card for groceries which can be $150 or more. I keep reading about caps on how much a transaction can be when conducted this way. Anyone have issues using the tap feature for groceries or larger charges?

PS-I see there is another thread on contactless cards, but didn't want to distract from that posters questions with my own. Apologies if I should have posted there.

Thanks,
Brad

American Express used to offer both the contactless, as well as the dual interface. I upgraded my contactless to dual interface, and ran into problems due to merchants who have the new card readers, but had to disable the chip readers. When using the dual interface card as contactless, it would abort the transaction, and I had to revert back to swiping the card.

Unfortunately there is still quite a backlog of merchants that cannot get their systems certified or whatever, so they cannot enable the chip readers. Which is great for the card issuers since they can shift all the fraud costs onto the merchants... But its no good for the merchants or for those of us that actually want to use either the chip reader or dual interface cards.

TU-8: 804 EX-8: 805 EQ-8: 788 EX-98: 767 EQ-04: 752
TU-9 Bankcard: 837 EQ-9: 823 EX-9 Bankcard: 837
Total $443,800

Anonymous · ‎07-19-2016

Interesting. So are you saying that they are all dual interface now?

Anyone info about the other questions? I'm really interested to know the transaction $ limits if any.

Anonymous · ‎07-19-2016

I thought I read something about the Citi Double Cash being eligible for Paypass? Is that true?

Anonymous · ‎07-19-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
I thought I read something about the Citi Double Cash being eligible for Paypass? Is that true?

Don't think so. Citi at one time offered a key tag for PayPass that wasn't card specific but that ended very quickly.

Anonymous · ‎07-19-2016

Honestly, I think the US in general is pretty anti-contactless. A lot of banks simply aren't bothering with putting it on the cards anymore, and the few that do don't really promote it. (Citi's new Costco card has it for instance but the only way you'd know is by looking at the card itself. And that's likely a one-off thing that Costco requested since none of their other cards have it.) The only way people are really okay with it is through stuff like Apple Pay and even then, a lot of retailers really would rather you use their own app--or just insert your card instead. Maybe in a decade things will be different.

My two cents anyway.

Anonymous · ‎07-19-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Honestly, I think the US in general is pretty anti-contactless. A lot of banks simply aren't bothering with putting it on the cards anymore, and the few that do don't really promote it. (Citi's new Costco card has it for instance but the only way you'd know is by looking at the card itself. And that's likely a one-off thing that Costco requested since none of their other cards have it.) The only way people are really okay with it is through stuff like Apple Pay and even then, a lot of retailers really would rather you use their own app--or just insert your card instead. Maybe in a decade things will be different.

My two cents anyway.

I think you're completely right.

Anonymous · ‎07-19-2016

Gotta love Citi's usual outsourced customer service. Wrote them a message a few days ago before this thread about the Paypass feature. They said:

"PayPass is being discontinued on all products as it is obsolete technology that is no longer supported by the MasterCard Association."

Oh it is? I didn't know that. Must be those cards in other countries are using obsolete technology that magically has Paypass built into their MasterCards. I guess RFID is obsolete technology that isn't the future of payments. What a MORON like the usual Citi customer service representitive. Oh, and I'm also pretty sure MasterCard still promotes it on their website: http://www.mastercard.com/contactless/

My local credit union CEO mentioned to me a few months ago that they wanted to put Paypass in their MasterCards, but there was some kind of update going on, so they decided to hold off until the time being. At least he's not a complete moron like the Citi csr's from India that makes up 100% of their customer service reps.

Between today's approval for my credit union credit card, and that message, it gives me another reason to dump another national bank like Citi. Although the Double Cash card will be hard to get rid of in favor of a card that earns 1.5 points per dollar spent.