Fingerprint Debit Card Trial

NatWest is trialling a new way for customers to pay for items in April 2019.  Some customers will soon be able to stop having to remember their pin numbers and use their fingers instead.

The debit card will have an electronic chip where the card holder will place their fingerprint and flash it to the retailer.  Last year over 6 billion people used contactless as the way to pay but felt restricted by its £30 limit.  The fingerprint card will also authorise payments over £30.00.  Phase one will see 200 NatWest customers trialling the new cards.

NatWest claimed: “retailers will not need to update their terminals and the new cards are designed to be more secure, if your card was stolen the thief wouldn’t be able to access money without the matching fingerprints”.  NatWest is also thinking of ways to obtain customers fingerprints remotely but the trial customers will be asked to go their local branch.

Google pay and Apple pay already use fingerprint technology on their smartphones but most people have found it frustrating.

A recent survey of UK consumers found that mainly young adults were excited by the thought of fingerprint technology especially being able to pay more than the £30.00 contactless limit.  However, 4 out of 10 people were worried that it would not work all of the time and a third said they were concerned that their fingerprint could be compromised.