Contactless credit card

What card were you using? I'm assuming it's a no fee card?

Yes, no fees. A Capital One Venture card.

I was able to use my Amex card and Apple Pay on my phone last year. Both worked well well and with Apple Pay I don’t have to have my cards on me.

Ah, the contactless credit card. When that RFID protected wallet comes in handy.

When that RFID protected wallet comes in handy.

It's a hindrance in my book. Completely negates that convenience of the technology, in that you can just leave your card in the wallet and hold that up to the reader.

you can just leave your card in the wallet and hold that up to the
reader.

Mkay. How does that work if you have multiple credit cards in your wallet?

Having multiple contactless credit cards in your wallet when you tap the pad is likely to confuse the terminal and potentially cause multiple accounts to be charged. I would only keep one card in the wallet or take the card I wish to use out to process the transaction.

We just received replacement Chase Explorer cards and they are contactless. Seems most merchants in Italy inserted the chip, but we did see it get scanned a couple times. Gladdening we have the protective sleeves.

Can you use yours as I use mine on the underground? Such a doddle not to have to think about whether your need to top up an Oyster.

On a trip to London last month, I spent the first 6 days doing the tedious chip-and-signature thing multiple times a day, jealous of all the locals I saw in stores and pubs just tapping their contactless cards and going on their way.

At a restaurant on my last day, the waiter looked at the back of my (Capital One) card, saw the contactless logo, and just touched it to his terminal - I had no idea I had such technology on hand all that time, and felt so dumb!

Now that I know, I've since been using it "contactless" at grocery stores like Sprouts and Randall's here in the US.

In the UK the current limit on contactless card transactions is £30 per transaction.

Apple Pay is often not subject to that limit unless the merchant imposes a restriction (some do, including some supermarkets).

Over 95% of all my transactions are either contactless or Apple Pay throughout the UK, and on my recent visit to Europe I found the same now in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France and Belgium.

Well, we're going into the city where Martin's has a contactless credit machine, so I'm excited about testing it out, and even moreso not having to deal with an Oyster card and in other ways making travel simpler. Martin's is a big upscale for us so I plan to dress up a bit.

I'm easily amused.

It wasn't many years back that Earl and his Cypress Lounge started even using debit cards, so this is high speed, my friends.