Public reject contactless payments

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The day before MasterCard is due to launch its contactless scheme in the UK, a new survey suggests consumers will reject the new payment method, seeing it as less secure.

Nearly two-thirds (70 per cent) of more than 2,000 people questioned by independent researcher YouGov said they believe contactless debit and credit cards would increase their risk of fraud, while only 15 per cent said they were "very likely" to use their card for transactions under £10.

The major card issuers have been talking up contactless for some months now, as a way for cardholders to speed up payment for low-value purchases. Customers need only wave a card near a reader for a transaction to be authorised. And customers are only prompted to enter their PIN to reset a spending limit once that threshold is reached.

But the survey, commissioned by ATM operator Bank Machine, found 72 per cent of people believe the card will make it easier for their children to purchase items using a card without permission. While 75 per cent said they prefer to use cash and are 'not happy' with the thought of the UK becoming a 'cashless society'.

The operator said the most worrying aspect of the new payment method, reflected by the strong opposition against any moves towards a cashless society, was that the contactless technology will be embedded into all new cards. About 70 million cards are likely to be enabled for contactless use, despite the survey finding that 40 per cent would rather have the opportunity to deactivate the card.

Ron Delnevo, Bank Machine managing director said: "There can be only one motive behind this new "wheeze" - rather than being about customer service, it's simply another manoeuvre by the banks to get rid of the cash that they so hate."

Meanwhile, MasterCard tomorrow is due to unveil its own contactless system, 'PayPass' following on from the launch of Barclaycard's OnePulse equivalent, based on Visa's 'Wave and Pay' scheme, which launched in London last month.

Oliver Steeley, MasterCard Europe head of strategy and business planning told IT PRO provisioning of the card technology would be up to individual issuers. And concern over how secure the new technology would be was only to be expected at first, with the strongest opposition like to come from cash handling industry players.

"PayPass is a threat to the their business," he said. "I can understand the concerns at this early point in the contactless lifecycle, but we've already got 16 million cards or devices enabled across 19 countries, with 55,000 merchants worldwide and I can tell you that the discussion soon moves from security and risk concerns to one about value when customers actually try it.

"People probably said the same about getting cash out of a 'hole in the wall' 40 years ago."

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