Payment methods: Fast enough yet?
10 October 2012 17:26:06
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| How do you pay for things? |
What's your chosen method of payment?
Have you got in on the contactless trend yet? Flash your card at a payment terminal, oyster-style, and you can dance out of the shop in no time. It's a lifesaver when you're paying for your lunch and only have 20 minutes out of the office.
Perhaps you're still sticking your card into the chip-and-pin machine and waiting to enter your four-digit number. Or even worse, you're trekking over to the cash machine to withdraw our reliable friend, the good old-fashioned banknote.
Pay-by-thumbprint
By 2025, however, these payment methods could very well be outstripped by a whole new approach to the transaction process. A recent survey by Pay Your Way, on behalf of its parent company the Payments Council, shows that 51 per cent of Brits expect to be able to pay with a thumb print within 13 years.
It's a pretty drastic concept, not least because of the security issues involved. After all, as superspies James Bond and Ethan Hunt have repeatedly taught us, it's ridiculously easy to get hold of someone's thumb print.
Simply follow them to a bar, wait for them to pick up a glass, and you're sorted. Feel free to have a drink yourself to celebrate - using their thumb print to pay, of course.
Fortunately, independent futurologist Dr Pearson believes there are ways around this flaw, including technology that scans veins in the thumb rather than the print itself.
If the concept doesn't appeal, there are other high-tech methods on the cards for future development.
We already have technology in place that allows payment by mobile phones. How about 'pay by jewellery'? 'Pay by contact lens'? Or even 'Pay by handshake?'
Old-fashioned methods
For those who prefer more traditional transactions, it's not all doom and gloom.
The survey also revealed that 68 per cent of participants expect to be able to use cash in 2025, while credit and debit cards are expected to be in use by 73 per cent and 75 per cent of people respectively.
No matter how payment develops, the Payments Council assures, efforts will be made to make sure all methods are secure and safe.
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Please note that the product links will take you direct to the Issuer or Insurer's site direct and we cannot be held responsible for the information which they provide within their own sites. On some comparison tables we use a star rating which rates products by visitor popularity.
