Contactless Credit Cards: The Future of Payment

If a survey was conducted today, a large percentage of people will be found to make their payments through credit cards. That’s despite a lot of experts advising against it. It’s just the way of living today as no one has enough cash to make payments without the help of credit. And with that credit cards have become synonymous with payment.

With contactless technology, we are now in the era of tap-and-pay credit cards. It’s no longer all about the swipe cards or the chip cards.

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But there are still some questions about the future of contactless payment. Is contactless payment secure enough for you to embrace this mode of payment? And more importantly, is it the future? Read on to find out.

contactless credit cards

Who Can Use Contactless Payment?

Anyone today can use this mode of payment. As long as you have some of the tech know-how you can use this mode of payment. Especially, if you’re comfortable with the digital world, this form of payment can make life much easier. 

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But most people tend to trust tangible cash or a plastic card. When it comes to digital wallets, they still have a lot of work to do. In 2017, a survey done by Forrester Consulting concluded that only 16% of US credit card users had embraced digital wallets.

What Does It Mean Security-Wise?

When it comes to the security of your card, the contactless mode of payment is a bit dangerous. Though fraud cases are rare when it comes to contactless cards, it does happen, just like in everything else that involves money. This primarily happens when someone scans your card.

Today, however, you have the option of using blockers when it comes to protecting your cards. These are special types of wallets made with both hard and thick material or tech that seemingly blocks fraudulent scanners from accessing your data. These wallets focus on protecting your RFID chip from being scanned.

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What’s the Rest of the World Doing?

When it comes to a contactless payment system, the US has not hit full steam. You’ll find only a number of stores that offer the service. But in countries like the UK and Poland, the process is highly accessible. In these countries, Australia included, almost 2/3 of payment is done through contactless systems.

In the UK alone, a 2017 survey by UK Finance showed that 34% of all their card transactions were contactless. This, however, is because of habit more than anything else. Commuters are a big part of contactless card users as there are usually long queues when boarding trains. It reduces payment traffic by a long shot.

What Do Consumers Get Out of It?

One great thing about the contactless system is the ease at which you are able to make payments. It normally takes a few seconds for payments to go through when you use this type of tech. With that kind of speed, it means that when people are paying for services, the queue will move quickly. For example, when you’re in a supermarket, why not pay quickly and keep the line moving, right?

The other thing is that you look cool, right? You don’t have to push your card through the readers like everyone else. You certainly will look cool when you tap and go. Imagine making payments with your smartwatch or just tapping your card on the counter

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Conclusion

Contactless cards are the future of payments, especially with a number of countries fully embracing the technology. Security, however, is still a big risk when it comes to it because of the numerous hackers around. That, however, still doesn’t stop developers from trying to integrate it into every system.