Contactless cards did exist here in the US a number of years ago. I had one from Chase. Then around 2014 when it expired, the replacement card did not have contactless payment anymore. According to this article it was simply a lack of demand: http://www.digitaltransactions.net/news/story/Chase-To-Disco...
You can still get contactless cards from Amex at least (I'm not sure about Chase). But you have to specifically request them (and hope you can find a CS rep who knows what you're asking for). I think it's a bit of a chicken and egg thing - it's hard to get a true measure of demand when people don't even know it's a possibility...
Lack of demand or lack of interest from the banks to invest in the technology/security? I'd love to know why the US adopted "Chip and Signature" rather than "Chip and Pin". Requiring a signature is essentially worthless. My understanding was that it was a combination of US customers not being familiar with using a PIN and concern over where the liability lies if fraud occurs (the assumption being that if someone uses a PIN then the card owner gave them the PIN).
There is an attack on chip-and-PIN cards when the ATM system hasn't been upgraded to chip cards. The problem is that the PIN for chip-and-PIN is same as for ATM withdrawals. The terminal also gets enough information from chip cards to clone the magnetic strip. The result is that compromised terminal can produce cloned cards that can be used to withdraw cash from ATMs.
I don't think chip and signature is a requirement - most places seem to ask for a PIN rather than a signature.
Just swiping the card, however, also works just fine and I now use it everywhere again because I can't be bothered to remember and type in yet another passcode. Just more friction in the process.
My guess is that the signature thing probably carries more weight as a contract for payment owed; and if that's not actually true it still feels true enough to make it more of a comfort to the retailers/customers.
I had one from Wells Fargo and was pretty sad when my new card didn't have it. I used to love to pay for things without taking my card out of my wallet.
That doesn't make sense, adding the contactless facility mustn't cost more than pennies. As a store owner contactless saves a lot of friction and time at check out. Once the transaction is processed on the terminal surely the whole system upstream is identical.
My experience from the US is... interesting. I tapped-and-paid $700 (not a typo) when visiting NY... and American Express had no idea I was in the US (unless they cooperate with US Border Controll). In the UK, I'm limited to 30 GBP.
zippergz|9 years ago
knz|9 years ago
ianburrell|9 years ago
Amezarak|9 years ago
Just swiping the card, however, also works just fine and I now use it everywhere again because I can't be bothered to remember and type in yet another passcode. Just more friction in the process.
mjevans|9 years ago
donatj|9 years ago
pbhjpbhj|9 years ago
tomp|9 years ago
dandandan|9 years ago