Contactless Payments
Contactless payments is changing the way that consumers are paying for products and services. Customers demand and expect speed and convenience and that is why contactless payments were always considered a future product but is now very much in the present. In fact, every major issuing bank has either in the past year or within the next year issued their credit cards with a smart chip in addition to the usual magnetic stripe. This includes Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. At the same time, tens of thousands of business locations have already installed contactless payment readers including McDonalds, Regal Theaters, 7-Eleven, CVS, several major sports stadiums, and the New York Subway system. These cards are branded under different names including Visa® payWave™, MasterCard® PayPass™, Chase blink®, American Express® ExpressPay™, and American Express Blue™. Within the next few months, approximately 20 million cardholders will be carrying one of these new cards and Visa has predicted that there will be over 400 million contactless cards in circulation by 2009. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
How Contactless Payments Works Contactless payment cards use the latest technology to send card data via radio frequency to a terminal reader. A cardholder simply holds or waves their card in front of the secure reader, and waits of a light to come on and a beep to signal that the purchase is complete. The contactless payments device is attached through a cable to a standalone terminal or a point-of-sale system. Instantaneously the transaction data is routed to the processing network just like the magnetic stripe read cards you are probably used to. It should also be noted that, unlike PayPass which you may have used on highways and toll booths, these cards use very short radio waves (Radio Frequency Identification or RFID) so inadvertent sales by just walking by are not possible. Why Consumers Like Contactless Cards In addition to speeding up the transaction, customers like the idea that the card never leaves their hands. Visa, MasterCard, and American Express have all enacted rules that dispense with the requirement for a signature for most purchases under $25.00, making the transaction even faster. Many issuers are also providing consumers with key fob cards freeing them from having to search their wallets or pocketbook. In addition, the major cell phone manufacturers are now including a special chip in their new phones so that consumers can download their credit card data into the phone and then simply wave their phone in front of the card reader. No more fumbling for coins or having to open their pocketbook in a line of strangers. There is also zero liability for unauthorized purchases.
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