Google Pay gives you worse consumer rights than using your card with contactless. A contactless card purchase is processed as “cardholder not present”, the same as phone catalogue purchases always used to be done, and the same as online purchases. The seller assumes default responsibility in any dispute. When you make a purchase with your card pin, or when you make a purchase with Google Pay, both are considered secure and authorised by you, so that becomes the default position in a dispute.
If someone steals your card and uses it to make a bunch of contactless purchases, you’d have a much easier time getting them refunded than if the purchases were made with your phone.
How would they use my phone? It’s locked and requires fingerprint to unlock? Card requires nothing. Can lock down phone. Can lock card but need to contact bank.
Fingerprint is fairly easy to bypass, face unlock sometimes moreso. A PIN or password can be captured by just watching someone, and you’ll have far more opportunity to capture their phone PIN than you would their card PIN. If anything, you’re perhaps less likely to lose your card as it spends more time safe in your pocket.
The point is it can be done, and you’re in a worse position if/when it happens.
Google Pay gives you worse consumer rights than using your card with contactless. A contactless card purchase is processed as “cardholder not present”, the same as phone catalogue purchases always used to be done, and the same as online purchases. The seller assumes default responsibility in any dispute. When you make a purchase with your card pin, or when you make a purchase with Google Pay, both are considered secure and authorised by you, so that becomes the default position in a dispute.
If someone steals your card and uses it to make a bunch of contactless purchases, you’d have a much easier time getting them refunded than if the purchases were made with your phone.
How would they use my phone? It’s locked and requires fingerprint to unlock? Card requires nothing. Can lock down phone. Can lock card but need to contact bank.
Fingerprint is fairly easy to bypass, face unlock sometimes moreso. A PIN or password can be captured by just watching someone, and you’ll have far more opportunity to capture their phone PIN than you would their card PIN. If anything, you’re perhaps less likely to lose your card as it spends more time safe in your pocket.
The point is it can be done, and you’re in a worse position if/when it happens.