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scorch07 t1_j6gus10 wrote

Reply to comment by saywherefore in ELI5: Why are contactless payment methods faster than inserting the chip? by jimmysofat6864

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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