Barclays customers will soon be able to pay their way with the
wave of a card as the bank is set to be the first in the UK to
roll-out contactless Visa debit cards to its customers.
From March, most Barclays debit cards that are issued or
reissued will have contactless technology built in as standard.
More than 3 million customers are expected to be using contactless
debit cards by the end of the year.
The cards use contactless technology to enable transactions of
£10 or less to be paid by holding the card up to a special reader,
without the need to enter a Pin or insert the card into a
terminal.
The transaction is debited directly from the customer's current
account in the same way that a standard card transaction is.
The cards will still have chip and Pin, which will be used for
other purchases and for ATM transactions. Periodically the card
will prompt the user to enter the Pin for contactless payments to
verify the customer's identity.
Mark Parsons, managing director of current accounts for
Barclays, said, "This gives people a new way to pay for things that
is quick, secure and convenient, and we are confident that it is
going to be really popular with customers."
More than 8,000 retailers
accept contactless
payments, including many outlets of Pret A Manger, Coffee
Republic, EAT, Books etc, Krispy Kreme, Threshers and thousands of
independent retailers, with more installing the technology every
week.
Barclaycard was the first to introduce contactless technology on
credit cards in the UK in September 2007, with the launch of
Barclaycard Onepulse, the three in one Oyster, credit and
contactless card.
Since taking over the Goldfish credit card brand, holders of
these cards can now also use Barclays' contactless technology.