Did you know that the Credit Card with its magnetic strip was invented 50 years ago? To me, it is amazing that it has been around that long because nobody has come up with a better, more secure payment system. With news in the past several months about Home Depot and Target getting their systems hacked into and their customer’s credit card numbers being stolen, sure makes me feel uneasy about using my card anywhere anymore.
In September 2014, Apple made an announcement of a new payment system called Apple Pay. The way Apple Pay works is when you make a transaction at a store, you pay using a temporary credit card number that is linked to your credit card account. The temporary number is only valid for that single transaction. After that, that number becomes invalid. Compare that to swiping or handing your credit card over to the merchant where they now possess your actual credit card number where by they can just about do anything with it. It costs Financial Institutions billions in credit card fraud and Identity Theft for the consumer as well.
Apple Pay has a two stage secure system. First, it does not store your credit card number. Second, it requires your fingerprint in order to access Apple Pay. Using an iPhone 6, you would hold it over the credit card terminal and the iPhone 6 lights up and then you place your finger or thumb on the iPhone’s Home button and then once Touch I.D. scans and identifies your fingerprint, the transaction is instantly and securely paid for. The cashier then hands you a receipt. It is that simple.
Unfortunately, there is another payment system that is coming out this year called CurrentC. Retailers that have a contract with CurrentC are not allowed to accept other payment systems like Apple Pay. The biggest problem with CurrentC is it does not accept payments from major credit cards like Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. Instead, you have to sign up with CurrentC with your Checking Account information so that CurrentC can have access to your bank accounts without assuming any liability for your account information if it gets stolen. It gets better. CurrentC also wants your Social Security number and your HMO healthcare information to boot. Why is this? So CurrentC and the merchant can track you even beyond what you purchase. Apple Pay does not track you. The transaction payment is between you, the merchant, and your financial institution. That’s it.
I for one am planning to Boycott retailers and fast food restaurants that are connected to the CurrentC payment system. Here is a short list of businesses that are working with CurrentC and are not accepting Apple Pay; Walmart, Best Buy, Sears, Home Depot, Kmart, CVS, and Rite Aid, to name just a few. If you care about your privacy and security, I urge you to do the same and stop doing business with these companies. It also wouldn’t hurt to write directly to these companies and tell them that you won’t do anymore business with them until they start accepting Apple Pay. By October 2015, the Law on credit card liability is changing. All retailers that use credit card terminals will need to upgrade those terminals to accept contactless payments like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and CurrentC. If retailers don’t upgrade their payment terminals, then that retailer will be liable for any fraudulent transactions.
