Payment methods in England

Nice topic Priscilla and very important.  Very briefly:

1. The starting point is a bank account as everything is linked to that. Standing orders and direct debits for rent and utilities will require this.

2. Purchases on line or in stores will require a debit card linked to your bank account.  Use of your debit card should really be in stores that are trustworthy so your bank details stay safe. If it is an in-store purchase, only agree to using your pin number to process the transaction. Swiping the magnetic strip exposes you to having your card details being leaked to scammers and they can steal money from your account. It has happened to me. Luckily my bank refunded me in full !

3. Paypal is an app that is handy to have and is fine with regards to keeping your personal details safe. However, do your own research on this.

4. Lots of new comers to the country often need to travel back to their home country for several reasons. Once you have built up a good credit history (normally 2 to 3 years), it is a good idea to get a credit card as purchasing airline tickets with a credit card gives you a very high level of refund protection in case your flight is cancelled.  Other than that, it is best to not use a credit card for regular purchases as the rates of interest are very high.

5. It's always advisable to have a small amount of cash on hand so you can make purchases in the smaller/local area shops as they do not generally like to process card payments for values of less than £5.00 due to the high fees they have to pay, as retailers, to use the card machine.

Hope the above helps.

Malcolm.

Hi all.

One little known fact is that in the UK, the British Coinage Act (1971) states that 1p and 2p coins are only legal tender up to the value of 20 pence. However, you can use more coins if the person you're paying is willing to accept them.  Some shops will if they want the change.

Also, many supermarkets have machines that will accept your coins in exchange for a voucher you can exchange in store - for a fee of course!

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Cynic wrote:

Hi all.

One little known fact is that in the UK, the British Coinage Act (1971) states that 1p and 2p coins are only legal tender up to the value of 20 pence. However, you can use more coins if the person you're paying is willing to accept them.  Some shops will if they want the change.

Corner shops and smaller shops don't mind so much as they normally get charged by the banks to change money. But I am not sure people really will be paying for something that costs £2 or £5 in 1 penny (£0.01).

SimCityAT wrote:

Cynic wrote:

Hi all.

One little known fact is that in the UK, the British Coinage Act (1971) states that 1p and 2p coins are only legal tender up to the value of 20 pence. However, you can use more coins if the person you're paying is willing to accept them.  Some shops will if they want the change.

Corner shops and smaller shops don't mind so much as they normally get charged by the banks to change money. But I am not sure people really will be paying for something that costs £2 or £5 in 1 penny (£0.01).

We used to have a 5-litre Asbach brandy bottle that my son used to use to save his pennies in when he was little; we ended up taking it to Morrisons to put through the machine because the local shops just wouldn't take them.  He was well chuffed with the paper money he got though.

Hello,

Here is my contribution based on my experience...

When I arrived in London, I subscribed to the Monese service. I downloaded the mobile application, then I received my debit card (mastercard) few days later. I created a sub-account in Euros (€), and asked for a 2nd debit card linked to this sub-account.

I believe that here using contactless payment is very common (for small amount) compared to the time when I lived in France. Some businesses don't even ask you, they just assume that you are going to pay contactless.

Same for public transports, I use their Oyster contactless card (pay as you go or weekly plan). But in my two first weeks here, I used my French debit card for contactless payment for each one of my travels.

For the others bills (rent, mobile phone plan, weekly groceries, top-up for my Oyster card), I pay online (website, mobile app) and by bank transfers.

I haven't had the need to use foreign currencies so far.

In France, I used to pay by card and type down my PIN code (I didn't want to use the contactless feature when it was possible), and I used to go out to buy my weekly groceries.
And I was tied to the local branch office of an established traditional bank company  (when Monese is an online mobile bank, much relevant for a nomad way of life).

I usually pay using debit card, credit card, bank cheque, cash. And I use PayPal for purchasing online on eBay and my credit card for buying on Amazon.