Visa’s Contactless Credit Card
Visa has a new type of credit card, called the contactless card, that sends the payment information through radio waves to the POS terminal, thus eliminating the need to swipe the card. This has the potential to save millions of customers from the untold wrist pain caused from the sliding action and signing the sales receipts. With the new contactless card all you have to do is hold the card up to a reader, and it takes care of itself. You don’t have to sign for purchases less than $25. The information is only sent over a few inches, so there isn’t a threat of sensitive data being lost in transmission. I haven’t seen many merchants with the 
logo yet, but more banks are starting to offer them, including Wells Fargo (wellsfargo.com/contactless)
How It Works
The contactless payment solution uses the latest radio frequency technology to send card information to a secure reader. You must hold your card up to the reader for your card information to be sent. All Visa Contactless cards also have the traditional magnetic stripe on the back, and are accepted at more than 20 million locations worldwide.
Benefits
Visa Contactless has many benefits:
* Makes checkout faster and easier
* No signature required for most purchases under $25.
* Visa Contactless provides you with the same security protection you get with the traditional Visa cards, including Zero Liability.¹
* Transactions are processed through the same, reliable payment network as magnetic stripe transactions.
* Particularly useful for smaller, quick purchases at places like convenience stores or quick-service restaurants.[From visa.com]
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August 30th, 2006 at 10:53 am
Looks like visa is finding more ways to make our lives easier. Hmm…maybe Visa is responsible for the obesity epidemic that we call America. Mississippi was just recognized as the fattest state in the union, could that be where Visa did there preliminary testing?
August 30th, 2006 at 11:16 am
Is this your source on that? I think that deserves its own article…
August 31st, 2006 at 12:15 am
[...] In response to a comment made by Jon (here), I decided to look further into the obesity epidemic here in America and find out what the root causes are, what the cost is, what the solutions are, and what is currently being done. I came across an address given by the surgeon general that touched on this very issue. [...]