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Roland Perry · September 18th 14, 09:46 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In message , at 09:25:00 on Thu, 18
Sep 2014, d remarked:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 17:39:15 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
One possibility is that while they won't be able to get a balance from
the bank in the milliseconds it takes to touch in, maybe by at least
overnight they'll know to blacklist such a card's future use.

I don't know how contactless works at the backend but I very much doubt
if they obtain a banks yes/no on each touch. There simply wouldn't be time
unless they're happy for each user to wait a few seconds for confirmation
which in a busy rush hour station I doubt is a good idea.

The 250+ page document posted yesterday probably has the answer.

My own gut feel is that within the scope of the "every maybe 1:10
requiring a PIN, and a floor limit of around $25" that the various
parties take a commercial risk.

I asked the question because I opened a new account recently and received
a contactless card even before I'd made a deposit and I had no overdraft
agreement so in theory I could happily spend my virtual 20 quid and I can't
see how the vendor would recover the money since the banks computer would just
tell them to **** off when reconciliation is done.

The bank can still pursue you for the unauthorised overdraft.
--
Roland Perry