General Fintech & Banking Articles Megathread

For what it’s worth I’m a bit old fashioned and prefer to use a real card to pay.
Mainly because I’m using a tool dedicated for the job - the card won’t run out of battery, nor will the software flake out on it (or be at the mercy of some shops’ POS implementations) and if someone bumps into you at the till it won’t be broken easily should it fall to the floor.

I am sometimes curious to know the reasons why people do choose to use a phone to pay, and have it as their only payment method?

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I already always have my phone on me and the less things I can carry the better. Just don’t need a card - an extra thing in my pocket I’d never use.

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It let’s me switch between cards without carrying each one. If they don’t take Amex, I can just flip over to the cashback. It’s also more secure than contact less.

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For me it’s just easier to use one device for paying and for loyalty cards.

It’s not my only payment method, though it hasn’t let me down once (and I’ve been using Apple Pay since it arrived in the UK - iPhone 6?), I have my watch and cards if necessary.

Actually I have my credit card as the default card on my phone for most purchases and Monzo as the default on my watch for <£5 purchases.

For me the phone feels more secure - it seems to ask for my pin everytime I use Google Pay… So while someone could steal my cards and use them immediately, if they steal my phone there’s a decent chance they won’t be able to use it before I can brick it.

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Some interesting numbers in there and obviously skewed hugely by the incentives on offer.

Interesting that Chase in a minus. Monzo/Starling on the plusses without offering switching bribes.

Santander/Natwest/Halifax must be the victims of previous switching offers ending and people moving on

I’ve sorted the table at the end because why oh why did someone think alphabetical was the way to show that data.

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Santander, NatWest, and RBS must be a bit disappointed. They’ve had decent switch offers but still have lost quite a lot of customers

Barclays surprises me. I don’t recall them offering any switch incentives recently and the general consensus of them seems pretty poor around here. They also sit 11th on those service quality survey things.

August 2024

And 25,000 Avios if you switch and join Barclays Avios Rewards (which is the reason I switched to Barclays)

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Nationwide rebrand can’t have been that bad after all then.

Might be down to them allowing triple dipping I.e. you could open Ulster on a switch, then switch that to RBS, then switch that to natwest. I imagine that would distort their figures somewhat.

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Rebrands are almost never bad enough that it forces people to stop doing business with that company so not exactly surprising

Do they only count complete Chase closures? I know many folk who have switched out of Chase but used a burner account. They still use Chase.

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I have no idea. The whole thing is missing lots of data.

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Use phone as it’s more secure and no need to worry about hitting the contactless limit. However, I’ve always got a few cards on me as a backup and even a few quid Squirreled away in case of need.

Was this intended for another thread?

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No. If you scroll up (comment 787 onwards) it was covered and I was just mentioning my usage. I think I tried to quote a comment, like I did with yours, but for some reason it didn’t get included.

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https://www.mastercard.com/news/press/2025/february/consumers-demand-more-choice-and-control-over-how-they-check-out/

https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/business/issuers/one-credential.html

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