Barclays to issue contactless Visa debit card to customers

Barclays will be rolling out new contactless Visa debit cards to customers from March.

Mark Parsons, Barclays Managing Director of Accounts, said ‘This gives people a new way to pay for things that is quick, secure and convenient.’

It can be used for items costing £10 or less and will be ideal for buying those items that today you end up searching around in your handbag or pocket for cash for, a coffee, newspaper or sandwich for example.

All you do is touch your card against a special reader to make the payment. You don’t need to enter the card into the reader and generally don’t need to enter a PIN.

If you need a receipt for your contactless payment then you just ask for one.

All transactions will be debited directly from your current account as with standard debit card payments and show on your normal monthly statement.

Over 8000 retailers can already accept contactless payments and display a ‘wave’ symbol to indicate this. Retailers already signed up include Coffee Republic, EAT,Yo Sushi!, Pret a Manger and Books etc. Others are continually being added.

It is worth noting that the Barclaycard OnePulse credit card is already successfully being used by many as a combined contactless card, credit card and oyster card.