Monzo Chip but no pin/signature verification

Monzo Chat Travelling with Monzo
1

An FYI and observation.
Something that caught me by surprise while travelling is that if a merchant has an older card reader they can do chip only verification (like contactless but they have to insert the card) this sounds great until (confirmed with support) you find out there is no limit on the transaction amount here. This is a bit worrying given that until the notification appears then you can’t confirm the amount being charged and by the time the notification appears (in abroad next time you have WiFi) it might be too late.

This is different to chip and signature.
You could say this is uncommon however in my case this was a large chain restaurant in Philippines (think wagama size/locations)

I was wondering if Monzo had any plans to cap or prevent this type of transaction?
What is the Monzo policy on over charge/unauthorized transactions in this scenario?

2 Likes
2

Certainly one for Business Analysts to think about…

3

When you stick the card in don’t you have to confirm the amount on the terminal by pressing cancel/enter?

Or is it more like when you get a physical refund in store and you just need to stick your card in and then it’s done without pressing anything.

4

So it’s essentially the same uncapped approach of true Apple pay - without the biometric verification :sweat_smile:

5

I think I’ve seen this in the UK by a toll road once.

But swipe is capped at £10k which is very high, so while this doesn’t have a technical limit, if it did it would probably be £10k also so you’re anyway relying on Monzo’s fraud detection systems in reality.

6

It’s not just with a monzo card where this happens. Pretty typical with foreign cards in the local terminal. Happens in the U.K. for foreign cards coming here. My overseas card when I first moved back here were like that in some shops here

7

In some cases you don’t even see the terminal, not uncommon in a swipe and signature world.
No confirmation of amount other than by the receipt issued.
My suggestions would be to either cap the type in line with contactless or allowed enable/disable like with magstripe.