Hey Kids! Here's the Code For Your Allowance!
We've all had those days. You know, those days when you are running around trying to get it all done and running into one problem after the other. Well, that's the kind of day I had today. After making lunches, getting kids off to school, working a full day, and making it just in time to my son's volleyball game across town, I decided to stop at the grocery store to grab something to make for dinner. Between acting as mediator to my bickering kids on what type of cereal we should get and trying to intercept the candy and cookies being tossed into the cart, I was ready to check out and go home. As I set all the items onto the conveyor belt and move to the cashier, I am stopped in my tracks. I forgot my purse. With no cash and no credit cards, how will I pay? I had no choice but to abandon my cart and serve macaroni and cheese for dinner. I'll be honest, the kids were thrilled.
One thing that I recently learned about that would have been helpful in this situation was Cardless ATMS. Bank of America and Wells Fargo are just a few of the larger financial institutions offering this technology through Apple Pay. You just wave your mobile device at an ATM that accepts Apple Pay and begin your transaction. While some may think this is fairly new technology, The Royal Bank of Scotland has been offering Cardless ATMs for years. Their ATMs allow you to begin your ATM transaction on your mobile device from anywhere, receive a code, and then enter it at the ATM to get your money without having to enter a card. Not only is it a great solution when you are in a bind and need some cash, it also reduces the amount of time and heightens your security while you are at the ATM. I also learned that I can send the code to someone else, like one of my kids, who can enter the code at the ATM and get the cash. This makes allowances so much easier on mom as well as paying the babysitter or girl scout selling cookies in the neighborhood.
Other cardless financial solutions are being developed and used by more and more people every day. Sending a payment to another person by using your mobile device is a breeze with apps like Venmo or Square Cash. But you don't have to launch an app to get in the payment business. Recently, Amazon announced Amazon Cash which will allow customers to add money (instead of connecting credit cards) to their Amazon account to use on the site. While this product is targeted to consumers who only use cash, there is no telling where this mega e-commerce retail powerhouse will take this product as it gains more experience.
With our busy lives, it is no wonder that financial institutions and Fintech companies are working so diligently to find ways to make payments easier for consumers. With four kids and a full time career, I welcome all the help I can get!
Having the ability to process payments via mobile device through Apple Pay or Samsung pay is now starting to pick up more traction in the US, whereas this type of cardless/cashless behavior has been working well overseas for quite some time. Learning about Amazon coming into this space to compete with the PayPal, Apple Pay, Samsung giants will certainly be interesting as Amazon truly has positioned themselves as a "e-commerce retail powerhouse" as you mention.
ReplyDeleteBeing a loyal Amazon customer (and also a Bank of America customer), I look forward to trying this new service Amazon offers. In checking out the resources provided here on Amazon's site, this new service is provided without any fees to the customer, and funds are immediately available.
This is certainly something I am going to try out now, thanks for the tip!
While this seems like a very convenient step in technology, how can it be safe? Not only in a cybersecurity sense, but also in a money laundering and physical robbery situation. While it sounds dandy to just send my child a code to get some cash, do I really want to give a high schooler the ability to use an ATM, a high target area for would be robbers?
ReplyDeleteFurther, the thought of having my security code intercepted while using a public wifi network can be scary. Although most ATM's only allow you to withdraw a certain amount of cash, that is cash that once it is gone, is not being replaced by your bank's fraud department. A would be thief would not be unhappy to intercept a security code and withdraw $500 a day, not a bad life. The practicality of this technology does come with many threats that do not seem to be properly addressed.