Same credit card # used for tube contactless pay

I have never tried to do that but I would assume you would not be able to tap two people in. Why not get an Oyster card for one person and pay for it with credit?

The TFL says
"If you have a joint bank account, you can usually both use your contactless cards to travel as each card will be charged separately"
Not very helpful with that "usually"

If you each have a physical card you will be fine. It doesn't matter whether they are linked to one account or not. Just use a card each and make sure that you use the same card all day to get the cheapest rates. What you can't do is pay for more than one person with one method of payment, be that a card, phone pay or a smart watch.

Two separate cards from 1 account is fine.

It’s my understanding that a CC in Apple Pay and if the same physical contactless card is used they are treated as separate payments. In other words, one of you use Apple Pay and the other use the credit card.

I would get two Oyster cards upon arrival to use; one for you; one for her.
I'd rather whip that out to use going through the turnstiles than risk losing a credit card (accidentally dropping it and not knowing) or having my phone stolen while it's out.
Getting out a credit card to use on the tube involves getting out your wallet, which many people do not want to reveal to the public where they are keeping their wallet on their person.
Many people also keep credit cards in their money belt and don't want to dig through there to get it and to replace it.
If an Oyster card is lost, all you're out is whatever amount you had loaded on there; 5 to 20 pounds or so.
Oyster card is the easy way to do this.
Tap in to get on the tube (underground); tap out when you get off and complete your journey.

Oyster cards are also used on the London city buses (great routes will take you everywhere) and the river taxi (Thames Clipper/Uber boat). On the buses, tap in when you get on; do NOT tap out when you get off.

"We don’t want to be trapped in the bowels of the MTA and not have a nickel to pay."
Oyster card is your friend. You're never without transportation when you have the Oyster card.
Easy to get, easy to use.
And your credit cards and phone can remain in a secure location where they can't be lost or stolen.

Technically, if the card is loaded into Apple Pay, Apple Pay uses a Device Activation Code which should be different than Tapping the actual Physical Credit Card.

rogerbrown - yes, I too noticed the "usually" which isn't reassuring.

Johnew52 - Is your response from actual experience?

Rebecca - Oyster Cards are now £7 so that savings x2 = $17 which isn't a deal breaker, but pays for something else. We have lanyards for our smartphones so pull out and use and then drop into shirt/blouse - works for us and we haven't been frisked by pickpockets for them - yet. CCs and other deep docs have stayed deep. If I loose the OC then I'm out some portion of a £38.40 7-Day Travelcard and maybe the £7 for the OC.

"We don’t want to be trapped in the bowels of the MTA and not have a nickel to pay." - Kingston Trio

I'll send an email to TFL and report back here if I get a timely response - 30 days?

I've asked TFL about the problem I have creating a TFL account. That was 3 days ago. The last post I've seen on RSE was 2019 and there was no resolution except to use a VPN. It seems strange that with TFL wanting everyone to switch to the app and with tourists making up some portion (too small to bother with I hope not) of potential users that this has not been addressed/rectified and some update posted.

Without the account I cannot load a Travelcard onto my phone's Oyster app, nor can I add £ for overages.

My response is not from personal experience, but it is as far as I’m aware what is actually happening now. A few years ago there were one or two US cards that caused issues on the TfL system but I haven’t heard of any issues recently. I actually personally use an Oyster card but that’s because I can get a 1/3rd discount with my Senior Railcard that is not worth setting up for the vast majority of tourists.
FWIW I don’t have a TfL account or an app and I’m not aware that TfL are greatly encouraging their take up.

"If I loose the OC then I'm out some portion of a £38.40 7-Day Travelcard and maybe the £7 for the OC."

ptwmson, not everyone puts the £38.40 7-Day Travelcard onto their Oyster card.
We never have.
It's not necessary.
We just top it up as needed, never more than 10 to 20 pounds added.
Oyster can be very handy.
We take the actual Oyster card with us, not loaded onto a phone with an app.

Doesn't mean other people should do it that way; it's just what we prefer.
Oyster cards can be purchased from machines inside the tube stations, or at the Visitors' Center near St. Paul's, or from small grocery stores/gift shops around London.

"We have lanyards for our smartphones so pull out and use and then drop into shirt/blouse"
Brilliant idea!

not everyone puts the £38.40 7-Day Travelcard onto their Oyster card.
We never have.
It's not necessary.

Putting a 7 day Travelcard on Oyster may not be necessary, but it might save you money. The weekly cap for pay-as-you-go funds runs Monday to Sunday. A travelcard can start on any day of the week.

To the OP,
I am speculating (no personal experience). I think you and your wife will each be able to use your contactless cards even though they have the same account number. If you check the back of your cards, you should each have a different CVV (the three digit code on the back of your card). That info is encoded in the chip on your card and passed on electronic transactions. Thus the system would have a way to distinguish the two transactions.

Laura - We arrive Friday so the 7-Day works best for us. Both cards have the same CVV and that's a reason for starting this conversation. I've looked at our other cards and they all have the same CC# and CVV - only names differ.

Rebecca - Based on our plans (we will ride a lot and during peak times also), we will hit the £7.70/day cap for zones 1-2 all seven days we are in London.

£14.00 - Oyster card x2
£76.80 - 7-Day Travelcard x2
£90.80 - TOTAL

£ 14.00 - Oyster card x2
£107.80 - Zone 1-2 seven day daily cap of £7.70 x2
£121.80 - TOTAL

So 7-Day Travelcard less expensive by £31 or at current exchange rate about $40

Note how the Oyster app, which I'm currently unable to use - TfL will not allow the creation of an account from here in USA, saves £14, but that's another issue.

TfL will not allow the creation of an account from here in USA, saves £14, but that's another issue.

Perhaps you can try to do it on arrival.

I always thought the CVV was unique to the physical card so clearly I was wrong on that.

You will be able to create your account once you are in the UK.

I understand how the 7-Day Travelcard will work for you now, and yes, you're right; you'll be saving money.

I guess I had been thinking that if you cannot use the Oyster app ("TfL will not allow the creation of an account from here in USA")
and it became impossible to
purchase the 7-Day Travelcard, you could just use the plain old Oyster card as a fall back.

I was not trying to argue with you, but to offer an alternative (and encouragement) in the event you continued to meet with frustration. Trying to be helpful.

"Note how the Oyster app, which I'm currently unable to use - TfL will not allow the creation of an account from here in USA, saves £14, but that's another issue."
I hope you are able to create your account with TFL and purchase your Travelcard.
Have a good trip to London!

Hey, something I kind of know about! I manage a whole metric ton of corporate cards for our employees...

Your cards have a chip for the contactless payment. Each chip is unique, as is the CVV code on the back of the card. The chips are different between the cards. You should be fine.

The only potential issue you may have is that, as an American issued card, it may not play nicely with British contactless payment receivers. The EU went Chip and Pin a long time before the US, and the US standard is a bit different in the details.

from the TFL website: "If you use a mobile payment associated with a non-UK bank card, your card may not work or you may be charged overseas transaction fees. Check with your card issuer."

As I said earlier I think, it used to be that some US cards did not work when presented but I have heard very little about that issue for a few years now so I assume it is primarily sorted. If it happens you only need to walk back a few yards to a machine to buy Oyster cards.

All:
Thanks for the responses and as promised I've contacted tfl.gov.uk and asked about same info on CCards to wit:

Name on card: John J Doe
CC#: 1234-5678-9012
CVV: 999
Name on card: Jane J Doe
CC#: 1234-5678-9012
CVV: 999

Surely someone on this forum has this same situation and has or has not encountered an issue?

Phil

Sounds to me like it would be treated as the same card.

My husband and I have similar Visa cards linked to our Alaska Airlines account. They also have the same CVC. We only take his to Europe—-I take a different card altogether. And FWIW, his Visa card did not work doe contactless payment on the London tube ( the TFL website warns about this). Fortunately we both have Oyster cards from a previous trip, so we just topped those up.

My AmEx card also worked fine, but like someone who posted above, I don’t like pulling it out to use on transport. So after confirming that it works, I put it away and used the Oyster card.

Here is another thought. You are going to need to bring a “back up” credit card associated with a different bank for security purposes. If something happens that causes your one account to shut down or be frozen, you still need a way to pay for things. Why not have your wife use that card?

One more thought. If your wife doesn’t already have a credit card that is completely in her name and on her credit, now might be a good time to open one. I hope you both have long, happy lives, but sometimes things happen. Many a widow discovers too late the financial perils of not having established credit in her own name and not having an account that is her own.

If either of you have a smart watch, one of you could use the payment on that. Or even put an oyster card on it. I do that for my daily commute in Chicago. No whipping out of anything, just a double click on my watch, and a hold over the reader. Little less nerve wracking than flinging my phone or a CC around.

The relevant part of TfL’s response to same name/Ccard/CVV etc as noted above:

“ Thank you for your feedback form of 14 February 2023 about an incorrect fare charged. Unfortunately we are unable to assist you because your contactless payment card is not registered please contact our contactless payment team on 0343 222 1234 for further assistance.”

Me thinks TfL is using AI and/or ChatGPT for responses to enquiries. I’ll not pursue further.

Thanks to all for your comments.