Cap1 replacement card came w/contactless chip

[Gollum]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My new Quicksilver Rewards Visa Signature has contactless. So far, my two Quicksilvers are the only cards in my portfolio to have this technology. I wonder why the US is lagging - I had heard contactless was popular in Europe.

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I think these are the main reasons:

Fraud losses were seen until fairly recently as easier to bear than the cost of new equipment (the US market is huge).

CC issuers (not customers/merchants) usually absorbed the costs of CC fraud, so customers/merchants had little enthusiasm for change.

Small and midsize merchants are/were waiting for the large banks to do the heavy lifting regarding customer education/support for the new CCs.

CC transactions in the US usually have real-time electronic transaction reporting but because of less-dependable electronic infrastructure in other parts of the world, all of a given merchant's CC transactions would be done electronically once per day instead of individually throughout the day, so the chip technology was useful (in non-US parts of the world) for authorizing transactions if/when the network was unavailable.

[RicHowe]

Why US slow to adopt contactless payments.
https://www.pymnts.com/nfc/2016/uk-lessons-for-us-mobile-payments-adoption/amp/

[Anonymous]

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@RicHowe wrote:
Why US slow to adopt contactless payments.
https://www.pymnts.com/nfc/2016/uk-lessons-for-us-mobile-payments-adoption/amp/

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Great article!!! Hits me. It is much easier to pull out the credit or debit card and tap it or dip it or slide it by a terminal than to deal with mobile apps and the like. Used to have a Chase Flexible Visa Card that was "contactless" (until Chase removed the option and replaced the card). For me Mobile Apps (with way to many variations) will never be my payment method. Noticed in the article it called out this same sentiment from other users too. Why have to deal with anything more than a simple card that can do it all!

[Anonymous]

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@RicHowe wrote:
Why US slow to adopt contactless payments.
https://www.pymnts.com/nfc/2016/uk-lessons-for-us-mobile-payments-adoption/amp/

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While adoption may indeed be lagging, I have a suspicion that PYMNTS is pretty anti-mobile payment in their reporting--at least Apple and Android Pay, anyway. I could be wrong on that, however.

[Anonymous]

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@Gollum wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

My new Quicksilver Rewards Visa Signature has contactless. So far, my two Quicksilvers are the only cards in my portfolio to have this technology. I wonder why the US is lagging - I had heard contactless was popular in Europe.

---

I think these are the main reasons:

Fraud losses were seen until fairly recently as easier to bear than the cost of new equipment (the US market is huge).

CC issuers (not customers/merchants) usually absorbed the costs of CC fraud, so customers/merchants had little enthusiasm for change.

Small and midsize merchants are/were waiting for the large banks to do the heavy lifting regarding customer education/support for the new CCs.

CC transactions in the US usually have real-time electronic transaction reporting but because of less-dependable electronic infrastructure in other parts of the world, all of a given merchant's CC transactions would be done electronically once per day instead of individually throughout the day, so the chip technology was useful (in non-US parts of the world) for authorizing transactions if/when the network was unavailable.

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That's for chip, though, not necessarily contactless (though the new hardware generally has both). 

Anyway, as mentioned earlier, we tried contactless cards before and they flopped. Because of that, I think there's a belief that they're mostly not worth bothering with and that mobile payment may be more worthwhile to push--especially if it eventually means that physical cards don't have to be issued by default.

(One way this is evident is if one reads up on various mass transit agencies considering upgrades to their fare collection systems. They pretty much universally say that contactless cards "never took off" and at least one agency in the process of upgrading isn't bothering with supporting them or Apple/Android Pay at launch until they see more demand.)

Who knows, though--there might be more demand in a few years.

[SBR249]

While contactless payment cards and mobile wallets might not be widely supported by mass transit systems yet, many of them are certainly familiar with the technology. Large systems like those in Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, etc. all use RFID technology that can be readily adapted for contactless with some upgrades. NYC is transitioning to mobile wallets. Any transit system that uses fare cards that you tap has experience with RFID and there are many. 

In reply to earlier posts in the thread, AmEx does not issue contactless cards by default like Capital One. You have to call and request contactless versions. I just did for my ED and BCE and their website states that contactless is available for most consumer and a few business cards by request. 

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@RicHowe wrote:
Why US slow to adopt contactless payments.
https://www.pymnts.com/nfc/2016/uk-lessons-for-us-mobile-payments-adoption/amp/

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While adoption may indeed be lagging, I have a suspicion that PYMNTS is pretty anti-mobile payment in their reporting--at least Apple and Android Pay, anyway. I could be wrong on that, however.

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First off, thanks Ric for posting the article link. Always good to get more information. 

I do note that the article is almost two years old, and as an avid Apple Pay Seeker, I have noticed more places taking AP recently, which works well for my Altitude Reserve card, or when Chase Freedom uses Mobile Wallet as a category. 

The comment about Starbucks being 22% of contactless transactions, I could believe that is the case two years ago. The main reason for that is people who use Starbucks regularly figure out they can get direct rewards by setting up the app, reloading a card, can even tip within the app, and don’t have to mess with cash change on the go. Ordering through the app also seems to be growing, though that is after the article came out. What is interesting though, you have to open an app to get the Starbucks mobile app ready to pay. Despite that challenge, the rewards are a motivator for customers. 

As to the earlier question “how do you use contactless”, well anywhere you see a POS terminal with the five dots waiting to light up, or the waves symbol, they probably take a number of contactless type cards, and Apple Pay. Hold the contactless card over, tap the terminal. Not tough.  AP is easy to use (after initial set up) just hold the phone over the terminal, and your default card will appear, thumbprint to approve the purchase. To select another card, scroll through the loaded list of up to 8 CC. So I think the article comment about too much friction to use mobile wallet, at least for AP, is not accurate. Slow adoption, due to lack of awareness, lack of direct reward to do so, habit, sure, but not more difficult as a payment method. Even easier (when in a store with the right POS) than Starbucks.