How many cards to carry

General Chat
21

I can see you on the Shopping Channel :grin:

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22

At the moment:

  • Revolut
  • Curve metal
  • buddybank (Italian fintech powered by UniCredit)
  • Intesa SanPaolo
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23

ApplePay/GooglePay on my phones
Santander card
Curve

Usually also my Oyster and my KeyGo smart card and Co-Op loyalty card. I have loads more cards that rarely get a ride out.

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24

Europe has 100% contactless acceptance or very close to it

I take it you’ve not been to Germany outside the big cities…

25

Contactless acceptance where card is taken; that is via a MasterCard mandate.

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26

At the moment I’m carrying:

  • Monzo card
  • Starling card
  • CapitalOne Credit card
  • Driving License
  • Tesco Clubcard Pay card
  • Tesco Credit card
  • Cash for emergencies
  • AirTag

A fair few cards, I know, but for some reason I can’t let go of carrying them for the time being.

The only card that isn’t on Apple Pay is the CapitalOne one but I have that linked to Curve to use it there.

Any advice on how to cut the cards/wallet maybe?!

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27

I know what the mandate says. Lots of places don’t take “foreign” cards either. None of this complies with their contract with their payments processors, but foreigners are hardly like to argue the toss, or contact Mastercard on their return, are they?

28

People argue with computers @ airports what makes you think they won’t argue over card payments? If they won’t take my card I’ll go to their nearest competition and place an order 2x of the value

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29

It’s a hard habit to break.
Even though I know I don’t need all the cards in my wallet, I can’t break the habit either.
Maybe it’s because subconsciously I use each card for different purposes.

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30

I carry all my cards Monzo, RBS, Starling, Lloyds, MBNA just in case there needed. I like having visa and MasterCard and also good in case place doesn’t take one.

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31

Make a list of what you use the cards for, and then work out the priority order you would use the cards. Then only carry the top 3 cards (or whatever number works for you).

Alternatively, do you need both Tesco cards / do you need both bank cards? Remember many of them can be configured onto your mobile phone, allowing you to have access to them without actually carrying them.

If not carrying cards and worried about them, freeze them in the relevant mobile app to protect the cards.

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32

Not exactly practical in the countryside where that shop may be the only one for miles.

33

How often is that ever true though? Even when my family have driven around randomly towns in the countryside have never just had a single shop

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34

Good shout. I do the same.

Generally I carry Starling personal, Starling business (MasterCard), HSBC (Visa) and maybe one other.

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35

You see, that just looks soooo cryptic.

Mind you, I’m sat in the garden doing nothing else, so imparting imaginary inflection to that phrase so that it begins to sound like the “one other” is the all-important, and frankly, jaw-droppingly shocking… Well it’s done now …:flushed:

(And now the thread got really interesting :face_with_raised_eyebrow:).

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36

You’ve obviously never been to rural Germany

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38

Unfortunately, a lot more common than you think.
I can name at least a dozen villages within 10 miles of me that have only one (and sometimes not even that) shop, pub, takeaway, etc.

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39

As a further point it occurs to me these people are unlikely to have a branch within a 10-20 mile radius

How exactly is cash beneficial to these kinds of people? I’d think they’d be the first to go cashless to be honest

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40

Statistically, rural areas have a higher bias towards residents in older age groups. These people are likely to be more reluctant to, or less capable of, switching to a cashless existence.

41

I know, I always think this myself.

I live in a somewhat rural area, with little access to cash, and I also personally prefer to not use cash, yet plenty of people want paying with it.

It’s just annoying and I find myself being totally misrepresented by things such as the Access to Cash review and Which?, where they claim we need to “protect cash for rural areas that rely on it”!

Actually, not having it would make life easier!