THE days of fumbling for loose change may well be numbered as new credit card technology is expected to dramatically reduce the time shoppers spend at the counter.
The time-honoured ritual of swiping your magnetic card at the eftpos terminal is also in question as major credit card companies look to unroll new wireless chip devices in their cards that require only a tap to scan the card. While Australian financial institutions have been relatively slow to adopt chip technology in their credit cards, Visa and MasterCard believe this is about to change.
Commonwealth Bank is expected to announce the imminent national rollout of its MasterCard contactless card - known as PayPass - following a six-month trial of the system in NSW last year. It allows card holders to complete transactions valued at $35 or less by simply tapping the card.
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