With each passing year, technology becomes a more important part of everyday life. With gadget and tech companies continually inventing and innovating new ways to help us with technology, it should come as no surprise that there are now plans for a system where you can pay for goods without the need for cash or cards. How do I hear you ask? Well, through mobile payment, of course.
The Mobile Payments Project
The project is being prepared by The Payments Council which will, in essence, allow consumers to link their bank details to their mobile phone number, allowing them to transfer money without needing the recipient’s bank details, just their mobile phone number. . It’s important to remember that this technology is not about turning our smartphones into wallets, as no money is stored electronically inside the phone.
How is it different from current mobile methods?
Of course, there are already ways to transfer money using your mobile; Any internet-enabled phone has the ability to access internet banking and many banks have even gone a step further and developed apps to simplify the process. The way this new project will differ is that you won’t need to know the bank details of the recipients, as they will already have been linked to your mobile phone number. The idea of the project is simply to simplify the process of transferring money using your mobile phone – think of technology as an enhancement rather than an invention. The service will use the fastest payment system so that money is transferred almost instantly between accounts.
Barclays PingIt and other services
Barclays is currently the only UK bank to offer the service. Customers can sign up for the Barclays service, known as Barclays Pingit, by downloading the free Barclays Pingit app. The service allows users to send up to 750 per day and receive up to 5,000 using just their mobile phones. You need a smartphone to send money; however, as long as your phone can receive SMS text messages, you can still receive money by signing up for the online service. Pingit is also available to non-Barclays customers, but only as a method of receiving payments, not sending them. As the service becomes more widespread, it will be up to each bank how they will package it, so to speak, but the familiar format of the app is likely to prevail.
There will be a standard minimum security set centrally to ensure all payments are protected and details are secure. The app (if the service is to take the form of an app at all) will likely require one passcode/pin to log in and another to confirm payment. If something went wrong, the user would be protected as with any other payment or transaction as long as they have not acted carelessly or dishonestly.
The service is expected to be free (as Barclays is), but as mentioned above, it’s up to individual banks to decide how to package the service, and indeed how much to charge.
contactless mobile technology
The above technology should not be confused with the also on the rise mobile contactless payment that uses NFC (Near Field Communication) that is embedded in smartphones. Contactless Mobile Payment (referred to as CMP for the rest of the article) allows users to pay with their mobile phone without the need for physical attention or cash; all that is required is that you hold your phone to the contactless reader inside the store and your account will be debited for the amount.
Currently, only Barclays and Orange customers can make use of this technology (also only available on one phone model), however more banks are expected to implement this in the future. NatWest is conducting a beta test of 1,000 customers where CMP is made possible by a chip embedded in a special iPhone 4/4s case. CMP can currently only be used to pay for low value items (under 15 years old) and is based on the same Chip & Pin technology currently used; for safety only a small number of
CMPs can be performed before the consumer is prompted for a PIN at a terminal. If payments are made without the consent of the cardholder, the same rights apply as any other cardholder regarding the return of your money.
More information
More information is available throughout the web. If you have any questions regarding a specific bank, it is advisable to contact them directly.