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saywherefore t1_j6g38dm wrote

The time is not spent by the machine communicating with the card. When you do chip and pin the card machine is communicating with the bank or credit card provider, and checking that the card is genuine and can afford the payment. This takes non-negligible time. In a contactless payment the vendor doesn’t check the card and just takes a risk that it isn’t genuine. The transaction will be settled up at the end of the day. This is why there are generally limits on the value of transaction that you can do contactlessly; it protects the vendor from being left out of pocket for a large sum.

Edit: this answer is Eurocentric. I understand that the technology may be different in other places, though in that case I doubt there would be a noticeable difference in speed.

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certifiedintelligent t1_j6ga9xu wrote

While many other countries typically have limits on tap to pay, the US has no such limit.

I've tapped for thousands of dollars before, with no fuss.

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scorch07 t1_j6gvy2a wrote

I suspect this is because the US adopted it later when doing live authorizations was more feasible/the norm. I believe NFC was adopted much earlier in Europe and other areas when live authorization was less common, so the limits were implemented. This is just a guess, though.

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confused-duck t1_j6h787e wrote

yeah I think about a decade ago there was like $10-$20 limit in poland per transaction and visa contacted bank during payment every 4-5 taps
not sure how mastercard worked

today I'm not certain about the limits - for sure more than $100 - but is it a hard limit or default to be changed in bank app, I have no idea
don't usually spend more in physical stores

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stevehockey1 t1_j6ha4ti wrote

In Canada, it's $250. But it is usually set by banks and credit unions so it can vary from country to country. It's a hard-limit.

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augustuen t1_j6hjkdn wrote

I'm in Norway and there doesn't seem to be a limit on how much you can pay with contactless. But above $50 it requires your pin. No such requirement when using your phone.

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scorch07 t1_j6gus10 wrote

This is false. Tap absolutely still checks with the bank in the vast majority of cases. I am not sure of the technical reasons that it is faster, but I do know it’s not because of this.

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cache_bag t1_j6gwrqc wrote

I agree.

Having worked on contactless technology, it's the same speed as when you dip the EMV chip.

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joshi38 t1_j6h0mq7 wrote

Yes, I tap all the time (with my card, not with my phone) and every time I do I'll get a notification from my banking app letting me know a payment has gone out and to who, usually within seconds of paying. In order for that to happen, the card reader must be communicating with my bank.

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remarkablemayonaise t1_j6gykro wrote

I was starting to get worried. Most of the time a card is rejected is because the limit has been reached. Imagine running a business and accepting that when people run out of funds / credit the business has to eat the cost.

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Stornahal t1_j6iy97b wrote

In the UK, card rejections are almost always to force a PIN entry - after a certain amount of time/uses of contactless payment by card.

Doesn’t happen when using phones (due to the use of tokens I think)

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BaggyHairyNips t1_j6h48i3 wrote

Yeah this. I work with contactless payments. When you load a card on your phone, the phone doesn't even have your credit card information. It has a token which is associated with your credit account and software which talks to your CC network (VISA or MasterCard or whoever) via the payment terminal. There is no way to pay without the CC network being in the loop. The built in token on your credit card works similarly.

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saywherefore t1_j6hdr1w wrote

The vendor can check with the bank during contactless transactions, but there is no obligation to do so.

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r2k-in-the-vortex t1_j6haalv wrote

Yeah that's not true in my experience, contactless does confirm and the payment immediately reflects in your credit/debit balance. Sometimes banking app in phone even gets the notification before the payment terminal passes the payment.

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saywherefore t1_j6hdf3r wrote

The payment can be cleared in real time, but doesn’t have to be. And if the payment is cleared in real time then a contactless payment will take just as long as a chip and pin transaction (minus the human faff).

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jimmysofat6864 OP t1_j6h1o41 wrote

If contactless doesn’t verify authenticity what’s stopping criminals from scamming retailers and using fake contactless cards with accounts that don’t exist at checkout?

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MoarHawk t1_j6j499c wrote

In an offline EMV transaction (i.e. bank isn't contacted) they verify that the card is genuine, they don't verify funds are available in the account. If the card is used fraudulently then the bank eats the cost in the UK, not the merchant.

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Captain-Griffen t1_j6jq76q wrote

What stops it is that they do, in fact, verify authenticity and even places a hold on your account immediately. They're talking complete bollocks.

The reason why contactless has limits is because of the lack of a pin. If you steal a card, you can use it up to certain amount of times for a certain amount of money before you need to do a pin transaction. The limits are there to stop a genuine but stolen card being used too much without a PIN.

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saywherefore t1_j6h8b3j wrote

The threat of being caught after the fact. The scammer has to perform the scam in person and will most likely be on CCTV.

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152centimetres t1_j6g57u8 wrote

not to mention the fact that if you put the chip in you actually have to select which account you're using and then put in your pin, which of course will take more time than just tapping the card to a screen

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saywherefore t1_j6g5ec3 wrote

What do you mean by select which account you are using?

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152centimetres t1_j6g6ekb wrote

when you insert your card it asks if you're using chequing or savings, when u tap its directly from chequing

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saywherefore t1_j6g7sqx wrote

Interesting, I have never experienced that. Here in the UK a debit card is associated with a single account, and savings accounts don’t have cards (typically).

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ShoulderGoesPop t1_j6gqz07 wrote

In the US checking accounts and savings accounts are usually tied together and use a singular debit card. You can open just a savings account though.

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ImBrokeNowBoi t1_j6hjvsq wrote

Really? I’m from the US and I’ve never seen that before.

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ke_co t1_j6g83pb wrote

I think OP is in the US, we don’t really have chip and PIN here per se, transactions are authorized real-time with the bank. We only need a pin if it’s a debit transaction, but most transactions are handled through the Visa or Mastercard network, even if a direct withdrawal from a checking account.

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Lobo9498 t1_j6galnb wrote

In the US, you may get credit or debit choices. Not always though, some just default to taking it as credit, without a PIN required.

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run_uz t1_j6gswgz wrote

That's not how it works

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152centimetres t1_j6gtqjo wrote

it is in canada, didnt realize this sub was for americans only

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run_uz t1_j6gvpla wrote

Despite your sarcasm...anywho just state the locale & then everyone learns

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mtnslice t1_j6gcdwk wrote

This only started happening to me after I moved out of the US. When I lived in the states the debit card was only tied to a checking account. In Canada the card lets me choose checking vs savings

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biggsteve81 t1_j6geljc wrote

Until 2020 savings accounts in the US were limited to 6 or fewer transactions per month. So debit cards would never have been tied to them for payment.

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TehWildMan_ t1_j6gi0gc wrote

It would still be common for some (particularly non-visa/mc debit cards) to provide the option. Mine did back in the late 2000s.

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