These cards do not require any signature for payment and no PIN is required. The card is simply tapped against a special reader, and payment is then automatically deducted from the cardholder’s account. Many believe that the cards offer increased convenience and ease, making things faster and easier for both the customer and for retailers, who can deal with small transactions quickly and cut down queues.

However, there are concerns that these contactless payment cards are now being pushed onto consumers, with some of the biggest providers in the country now forcing them onto their customers. It is thought that other providers will follow suit. Amongst the providers whose cards are now all contactless versions are Barclay’s, MBNA, and Virgin Money.

Some customers are concerned about security, because there is no need to proof of identity, signature, or PIN for transactions that are under £15. According to reports there is a safety procedure built into the card, which will only allow a number of transactions to be made within a certain period to a maximum of £50 before a PIN is requested. However, many consumers are far from convinced by this feature.

One customer who was not happy about her Barclaycard being changed to a contactless model said: ‘These cards make theft so much easier and card theft more attractive. I have objected strongly to Barclaycard, who say there is no alternative card but that I could pay a fee to protect my card.’

Some consumers forced to have contactless cards is a post from: Credit Cards Bureau

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Leading the way in this new innovative way of shopping is Barclays, Barclaycard who have over 5 million contactless enabled credit cards in the U.K. at the present time. It all started in 2007 with Barclaycard introducing the One Pluse, making life easier for many of its customers.

Caffe Nero, one of the largest coffee retailers trailed the contactless concept in December 2008 in central London and completed the roll out across all their stores by October 2009. Managing Director of Caffe Nero, Jonathan Hart, says “We have had very positive feedback from our customers since our decision to trial contactless in December 2008. The rollout across our entire network will give our customers a choice of ways to pay which we hope will enhance their experience with us.”

Another company to roll out this concept is Pret a Manger, who have also successfully roll out the product throughout its 199 shops. Head of I.T. at Pret a Manger , Simon Kerry, said “As a high street food chain, our busiest times are during the morning and lunch time rush hour. These are the best times to pay with contactless as it cuts down on the amount of time that our customers will spend queuing in store. We are pleased our customers have embraced the technology and hope to see an increase of payment via contactless in the next year.”

These are only two of the big names who have rollout this concept, taking contactless payment product with Barclaycard to 20,000 outlets.

Amer Sajed, Chief Executive of Barclaycard UK, Business and International at Barclaycard, comments: “Five million contactless payment cards issued is a significant milestone on the journey of how people will pay for goods and services in the future. Together with Barclays we continue to rollout contactless technology across our card portfolio as we believe it is the future of payments. Consumer feedback highlights the increasing demand for contactless payment and we expect to see more retailers follow Caffe Nero and Pret A Manger and sign up to contactless in the near future.”

The Rise Of Contactless Credit Cards is a post from: Credit Cards Bureau

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The new scheme will allow the cardholders to get instant discounts at participating retailers without having to redeem points and vouchers, so consumers will be able to enjoy a hassle free way of getting their credit card rewards. Whilst the credit card giant handles payments for nearly ninety thousand retailers, it has not yet revealed how many of these will be taking part in the new rewards scheme.

Many industry officials have attacked other rewards based schemes because often the cardholder finds it too difficult, confusing, or time consuming to redeem their points, and they end up going to waste. However, the instant benefits that this new rewards scheme will provide means that this should not be an issue.

There are many other credit card providers that offer rewards based cards such as cash back cards, air miles cards, travel rewards cards, and a variety of others, but it has been revealed that an alarming number of people fail to redeem their rewards for one of a range of reasons, which means that they end up not benefiting from having a rewards based card at all. Industry officials have pointed out that rewards based cards are best suited to those that pay their balance off in full each month, as otherwise the interest charged can outweigh the value of any rewards received.

New Rewards Scheme To Be Launched By Barclaycard is a post from: Credit Cards Bureau

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An example of how this would work would be that when they used the Visa card, whatever carbon emission’s are gained from this purchase will be offset against something of the complete opposite, such as forestry or renewable energy.

Luc Janssen, who is head of Visa Commercial says “This new partnership means that we can offer members a ‘green’ payment capability across Europe that addresses the increasing demand for sustainable initiatives.  It is also easy for member banks to get involved as they won’t need to invest heavily in special back office functionality, as ClimaCount has that already in place.”

This new project for visa follows on from the Visa Greencard, which was launched into the consumer market over in Holland back in 2004.

Barclaycard are another company who are looking into this new area of the market and earlier this year launched the Breathe credit card where it is the customer who benefits.  Some of the benefits that the customers see are things such as discounts on home insulation, green energy and holidays in the UK which are done to encourage greener spending.  Along with this Barclaycard also give half of the products profits to various different environmental projects which aim at reducing emissions all over the globe.  Other credit card companies who have also produced similar products are the UK’s Co-operative Bank and Dutch banking group Rabobank. 

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What we are now seeing are credit cards which will be rebranded as Barclaycard Goldfish and the Barclays owned card going back to the loyalty points market.  Previously Barclays were associated with the Nectar scheme which is managed by the Loyalty Management Group whose partnets included Sainsburys supermarkets but this deal didn’t really fit in with the plans that Barclays had.

The £ 35 million takeover of Discover Financial Services will see Barclays taking over the upmarket i24 card which will now be known as Barclaycard i124, then on the other hand Morgan Stanley also but this product is due to be scrapped.

Gary Twelvetree, Barclaycard Chief Marketing Officer for UK Cards says ” This is a return for Barclaycard to rewards, which we’d moved away from when we left Nectar, however, the market has changed in that time and customers are expecting more from their credit cards, not just 0% offers. That’s a good thing for the market.”

What this all means is that Barclaycard will now have nine card programmes under their masterbrand, some of which are Barclaycard Football card, the first “Green” card Barclaycard Breathe and Barclaycard OnePulse.  One observer says “Over the past two years we have seen Barclaycard defining and strengthening its portfolio, but off the back of the iconic Barclaycard brand.”

In the near future we are likely to see a review of Barclaycard’s advertising strategy by seeing the currect campaign being scrapped in order to enhance their growing international ambitions by taking a new fresh approach to market their products.

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The message that is being put out to the current holders of the Discover Financial Service cards is that they will not be losing out as a result of this change.  Holders of these credit cards will soon be reciving a new card to replace their old one and they will recieve one of nine new or existing cards that Barclays offer.  Along with recieving their new card they will also be recieving a guarantee that the benefits they had with their previous card will be the same with their new card if not better.

These new credit cards should be with the holder by the 20th of October and will see a new account number and pin being issued.  Although the holders will be getting new cards, account numbers, pins, etc, this will not affect the credit limit or interest rates that they had.  For customers looking to be able to find out more about the new Barclaycard that they will recieve a spokesman for the company advised “Customers will be able to get more information by calling the customer service number on the tailored letter sent to them by Barclays.”

It seems that Barclaycard are doing all possible to make this takeover go as smoothly as possible both for their customers and Barclays and in the words of their Managing Director of UK Cards, Amer Sajed “Over the next few weeks, we are focused on ensuring a simple and seamless transition for our new customers and we feel that the new card offers and our customer service will make them feel welcome to Barclaycard.”

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