Find a merchant that takes Apple Pay, it’s their loss if they don’t. All eyes on Tesco 
, although I hear that’s changing…
It’s getting super rare these days. By 2020 all merchants have to accept it don’t they?
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Really? I hadn’t heard that.
If that’s the case, then having the option not to have a card would be great.
I still don’t think you can get rid of them altogether, because then you are limiting yourself to a phone that supports the payment method, having it charged, and not breaking it.
But an option is good!
I think my Tesco is upping the limit in June this year!
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Seems it applies to contactless but again it’s rare you find somewhere that limits to £30
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In Portugal we had a recycled plastic card, issued by Unicre, which when expired you could send back to them and they guaranteed it would be recycled into new cards. It was discontinued a couple years ago
Right now, with consderations such as battery life and/or loss/damage to phone, a completely card-free offering doesn’t seem 100% practical. As the landscape changes though, particularly with integration with wearables, things could look different.
“Oh no, my batteries died. It’s OK, I can tap my watch, ring, other NFC accessory to pay.”
With that sort of support, I would leave my cards at home. Yes, for big purchases you would still need the phone to enter a PIN. Or would you… future capability of terminals to enter the PIN for a contactless transaction, without the need for the card to be entered? 
Alright, I’m rambling now, but I don’t think that future vision is too far fetched…
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What do you mean by saying you need the phone to enter the PIN? What’s the problem with entering the PIN in the terminal for a contactless transaction?
2FA? Larger purchases require confirmation on the phone?
This already exists and is supported by some merchants, you just don’t know it does until you try it 
.
I’ve paid for a meal over £30 by taping my card and then entering in my pin afterwards.
The waitress was rather amazed that it worked.
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Really pleased to hear this. Anything over £30 so far, I’ve always had to tap then enter my PIN via the phone. The fact that terminals are now being geared up to allow you to enter the PIN on the terminal is great.
Biometric cards are already a thing… now imagine if (similar to the PIN entry discussion) you could tap your wearable, and use biometric entry on the terminal for 2FA over £30.
We’re seeing such great innovation in such short periods… who knows what the future holds.
Really? Didn’t even know entering the PIN on the phone instead of the terminal was possible, my ignorance. Here in Portugal for any contactless transaction over 20€ you just insert the PIN on the terminal.
Does that mean that for transactions over a certain amount you can’t use contactless unless you’re paying by phone? I don’t see any advantage in that implementation
No, I’m referring to 2 Factor Authorisation where for purchases over £30 you get a message to your phone asking for authorisation.
Aren’t all purchases on your phone conducted via face ID or Touch ID / android equivalent anyway?
What if you’re not using your phone, just a contactless card? Here in Portugal over 20€ we just have to insert the PIN on the terminal, how would you do it in the UK?
I did say in both my previous comments 
Under £30, all I need to do is wake my Android phone - no need to use my fingerprint or facial recognition.
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I’m talking about contactless purchases over £30 some retailers say it’s not allowed but others let you do this. Then sometimes the ‘Verified by Visa’ thing kicks in and that’s where I seem to remember keying a code on the iPhone 
That just seems overly complicated. Just inserting the PIN on the terminal for purchases over £30 would be much more straightforward
I read a thing online, that admittedly was published in 2009, but the study concluded that the manufacture of one credit card is about equivalent to 21g of Carbon, and the paper is packaged in, is about the same again. And then the postage of the actual card adds about the same again (per a US study I found)
Obviously outdated and doesn’t really account for contactless tech in the card - so imagine this figure has gone up.
Per the study, 1 credit card is the equivalent carbon to about 15 $1 bills - so clearly the benefit of going Cashless is big. Over the course of life for 1 card, the carbon footprint will be pretty good on a per transaction basis, especially vs cash or cheque.
That said though, I think I’d be more interested in Monzo’s environmental impact as a whole system. While there are a lot of users with multiple cards - I imagine the server running costs, etc will contribute to more carbon than that of the cards.
But if you balance that with a Legacy Bank - Next to no post, all the T’s and C’s are digital, etc, etc - so I reckon they’ve already got a fairly good platform per user vs some banks out there.
I think there can be a lot of ‘vanity’ or ‘pr’ in something like a Biodegradable card - they make good sound bites etc - but generally they aren’t actually where the impact is.
I’d love to see how they focus on making their entire operating model more carbon efficient (over just the cards alone).
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