finally, contactless payment is coming to Australia
from AntBlog701

finally, contactless payment is coming to Australia

According to this news article, after an 18-month trial, the contactless payment will be available in Australia for transactions less than $100 (AUD).

About 2,000 contactless terminals from Commonwealth Bank, 2,500 terminals from National Australia Bank and 350 units from ANZ will be installed to allow MasterCard PayPass and Visa payWave credit card holders to shop smoothly without the need to enter the PIN or sign the name.

This is a new speedy way to complete the transaction. However, the security of such wireless transaction (RFID) may raise another question... how secure is the RFID credit card. Well, there's the answer:

Some people, however, have been concerned about the security of the system. The bank attempted to reassure such doubters by saying that contactless payment was just as secure as paying with a card protected by PIN or signature. Markets that have introduced it have not seen a significant rise in fraud, Commonwealth Bank general manger merchant solutions Dominic White said. "The activity is not to take this and buy a few burgers — fraudulent activity will be to use it to buy something larger," he said. For larger purchases, the cards operate with PIN and signature.

The best thing about using credit cards for shopping? You can earn awards points!

news sources:
CommBank installs contactless payments too (ZDNet Australia, 15 October 2009)
CBA installs contactless payments (Australian IT, 15 October 2009)

related blog entry:
changing the credit card type? think again (18 September, 2009)