“Visa is changing how their debit and credit cards work in order to reduce the number of physical cards Americans need to carry around.

With the new features, which will be available by summer, banks will be able to issue one physical payment card that's connected to multiple bank accounts.

It means your wallet could get thinner since there'd be no need to carry, say, a Bank of America or Chase debit card as well as their respective credit cards.

Americans will able to customize their payment settings with their bank - such as having all purchases below $100 or with a certain merchant go on their debit card, while other purchases go on their credit cards.

Visa is saying this could make obsolete the 16-digit code you have to type in every time you go shopping on a new website.

'I think (with these features) we’re getting past the point where consumers may never need to manually enter an account number ever again,' said Mark Nelsen, Visa’s global head of consumer payments.…”

DailyMail article:
https://mol.im/a/13424355

Is this something like a all-in-one printer? That, if it's broken (hacked), everything ceases to function (your money's gone)?

Sounds like this is to make it easier and less costly for Visa and easier for hackers.

I do not want multiple accounts connected to one card.

My debit card is only used to withdraw cash, no vendor purchases, brick & mortar or online.

Oh boy. I won't be able to opt out of the government monthly freeze dried cricket food allotment.
Just thrilled at this feature....

quote:

Originally posted by SW_Sig:
My debit card is only used to withdraw cash, no vendor purchases, brick & mortar or online.

An ATM card can do that for you...And unlike a Debit card, if your ATM is lost or stolen, nobody can use it to empty your bank account!

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

It sounds like this means they would merge their ATM and debit cards and credit cards into the same bit of plastic, to save themselves some card-production costs. No way do I want to have any plastic activity on anything even remotely linked directly into my bank account. Bad enough there's the risk of credit card numbers getting stolen and misused, but there's a reason my bank ATM card only gets used at the bank, and I won't be using any multi-function cards or card numbers out and about, or online.

The good news is that this 'feature' sounds like it would only apply if your credit card was issued by the bank you also use for your checking account. If my bank were dumb enough to do this, I'd immediately close either the checking account or the card.

Consolidation rather than diversification of risk and flexibility?

Woooohoooo sign me up!

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

Originally posted by SW_Sig:
My debit card is only used to withdraw cash, no vendor purchases, brick & mortar or online.

An ATM card can do that for you...And unlike a Debit card, if your ATM is lost or stolen, nobody can use it to empty your bank account!

Unless you write your PIN on the back! Yes, I know someone who has done this because "it is too hard to remember." Yes, she's blonde.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

Originally posted by SW_Sig:
My debit card is only used to withdraw cash, no vendor purchases, brick & mortar or online.

An ATM card can do that for you...And unlike a Debit card, if your ATM is lost or stolen, nobody can use it to empty your bank account!

I have checking accounts at a local bank and Bank of America, and neither offers a stand-alone ATM card. With both, my only option is a debit card that functions as an ATM card and that's the only way I use them. I make no purchases with these cards.

^^^Well, that's certainly another example where 'Bank of Amigos' falls short!

quote:

I do not want multiple accounts connected to one card.

My thoughts exactly.

If my credit card gets hacked (it has) I don't want them to have access to other accounts too.
No way!

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Visa is saying this could make obsolete the 16-digit code you have to type in every time you go shopping on a new website.

Has society gotten to the point that typing in a 16-digit code is just too inconvenient? YGTBSM!

quote:

Visa is saying this could make obsolete the 16-digit code you have to type in every time you go shopping on a new website.

How so? You still have to "identify" this fancy new card to the site, don't you?

quote:

Originally posted by M'headSig:

I have checking accounts at a local bank and Bank of America, and neither offers a stand-alone ATM card. With both, my only option is a debit card that functions as an ATM card

Same here, with couple credit unions and banks. It has been many years since I have seen an ATM-only (non-debit) card available from any financial institution that I know.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Is this something like a all-in-one printer? That, if it's broken (hacked), everything ceases to function (your money's gone)?

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:

quote:

Visa is saying this could make obsolete the 16-digit code you have to type in every time you go shopping on a new website.

How so? You still have to "identify" this fancy new card to the site, don't you?

So, I think the idea here is just a physical version of Visa's "Click to Pay", where this "universal" card (just like your smartphone's wallet/pay app) communicates the charge via encrypted tokens instead of actually transmitting a card number. However, it'll have to rely on some kind of online account management system for you to be able to assign the different cards the way you want to. It obviously wouldn't be possible to select the card/account you want to pay with through the physical card itself.

What the article got right is that online fraud is much more common. It's because most card numbers are actually stolen via random number entry (you'd think this would be difficult because 16 digits is a lot, but the first 8 digits aren't actually random). What the article got wrong is that even though the Apple Card functions much the same way, the physical card itself does actually have its own number (like any other regular card), which can be stolen, even though it isn't written on the card.

I try to minimize the number of credit cards I have; I have a Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa and a green AmEx card; then I have an Apple Card which I don't use.
Whenever possible I use Apple Pay, with the understanding that they use a one-time token, and that is more secure than transmitting the credit card number.
I use a debit card only for the occasional cash withdrawals, because I understand the recourse for fraud is only good with a credit card, not a debit card.

So I see no benefit to Visa's new "feature" for me.

Usually, when something that has been around a while gets a new "feature," it's good for them, not you.

If you really think it’s in an effort to limit the cards you have to carry I have a bridge.

The reason they want to do it is right in the article. They want to link the card to your bank account and the part they forgot to mention is that once their dream of an electronic currency happens they can electronically take the payment from your account if you didn’t make one that month.


America is terrible at personal finance and have racked up 1.3 trillion in credit card debt so they want their money.

Great, making it easier for people to spend money they don't have. What an idea.

The next step to prevent fraud will be a subcutaneous ID chip to keep someone from illicitly using your card. No way that could go south, right?