While contactless credit cards have become the norm now, it’s not novel. This technology has been around for quite some time now. For instance, MasterCard introduced such cards way back in 2003.
Contactless cards have been popular in Europe, Australia, and Canada, and are now steadily gaining popularity in the United States.
If you aren’t sure what contactless cards entail, then you have come to the right place. Continue reading below to learn more about contactless credit cards and how they work.
What Exactly Are Contactless Cards?
This concept has contactless technology known as NFC (Near Field Communication). These cards usually have an NFC chip plus a radio frequency (RFID) antenna attached to them. This is why they are also referred to as RFID chip credit cards or RFID credit cards.
When shopping with these contactless cards, you simply wave it over the payment terminal, and it will use a one-time code and radio frequencies to complete the transaction. You will not have to sign, swipe, or insert your card into the machine.
This makes the purchase process faster than using EMC chip card technology to pay since the whole process takes a few seconds. If you want to make a speedy transaction, then these cards will work perfectly for you.
Contactless Payments
If you are familiar with contactless credit cards, then you must have come across “contactless payments” as well. These two work hand in hand, but it’s essential to keep in mind that contactless credit cards are only one way of making a contactless payment.
Contactless payments are any form of payment that does not need physical contact. In other words, you do not have to swipe or even insert the chip. This technology has been around for ages: made in Seoul in 1995.
There is also the tap-and-pay kind of technology that can be embedded in watches and phones. Most of the modern contactless technologies involve the use of digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. For instance, there are RFID antennae that are used by contactless credit cards to complete payments.
To use your phone for payment, you need first to download the appropriate tap-and-pay services for your particular phone.
Bottom Line
When these contactless cards penetrated the American market, they were not a big deal. But today, with merchants getting on board every day and even consumers jumping on the bandwagon, one would only say that it is a technology that will be around for years to come.