Londoners can shop and go with quick-pay credit card

But the pennies add up, writes Huma Qureshi

Barclaycard has launched the OnePulse Visa card, an all-in-one credit and travel card which lets you pay for everyday items like newspapers and snacks without entering a pin, and also doubles up as an Oyster card for Londoners.

Cardholders can use OnePulse to make purchases under £10 'quickly and conveniently', without having to physically hand over their card or enter a pin. Instead, the card is tapped onto a reader which automatically charges you for the cost of the purchase and appears as a transaction on monthly credit card statements. Retailers including Books Etc, Coffee Republic and Eat will accept the cashless payment method.

Tube travellers can use OnePulse as an Oyster travel card, either by charging it with pre-pay credit or by buying monthly or weekly travel passes. You can also opt for an automatic top-up, which immediately tops up your Oyster card if your credit falls low or runs out en route.

'This is a lifestyle card, which is very focused on Londoners,' says Sean Gardner of 'If you're in a shop and you can pay for things in a matter of seconds without having to queue for ages, then it's worth it, especially if you don't like carrying cash around.'

But, he warns, there is a danger that you could use the card every day on small purchases without realising that the costs are adding up. 'If you used the card to buy your lunch every day, you could easily rack up £150 a month and not realise you'd spent that much.'

Barclays says OnePulse cardholders can access their statements online, so they can tell how much they are spending on a weekly basis if they want to budget.

OnePulse is charging zero per cent interest on purchases for the first six months, then 14.9 per cent APR interest, for all purchases.

Mastercard introduced a similar quick-pay credit card, PayPass, at the start of the month. It will be available throughout the UK after an initial introduction in London, although there will be no travel card facility on it. Banks signed up to the trial include Bank of Scotland, Halifax, HSBC and Lloyds TSB. The card works on the same tap-and-go concept as OnePulse for items under £10.

Meanwhile, the Sun newspaper is also going cashless, with a pre-pay Mastercard which it calls the 'perfect plastic solution'. The card costs £6.49 to buy and it is free to load money onto.

'This is a completely different card to the likes of OnePulse, since it's not a credit card in the first place,' says Gardner. 'It's probably only appropriate where cash isn't an option, rather than replacing cash. It will at least work as a budgeting tool because you will not be able to spend more than is on the card.'

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