Driver's License to be the Next Debit Card

prostoalex writes "Your US driver's license has a magnetic stripe with unique ID in it, and your debit card carries a magnetic stripe with account information on it, so why not link the two together and allow people to use their driver's licenses as debit cards? That's precisely what a young company National Payment Card is doing in select locations, according to Business Week: 'Gas-station owners are pleased with the program too. Because NPC processes the payment as an e-check with the Automated Clearing House (ACH), a network most commonly used for direct deposits, participating retailers bypass credit card companies such as Visa and Mastercard.'"

Comments

Re:ACH network has no consumer protections

[tm2b]

Frankly, so what? A bank can't stop you spending money you've alrady paid into your own account. That's not a financial risk for them. Credit is; they might be able to suspend it, but they've already lost what you've nabbed. Yet, the latter gets MORE protection? Doesn't that sound mad to you?

Of course it does. So what? "So what" is that it's the way it is (in the US), and thus important to understand when using or implement new payment methods. Arguing that it "really" is otherwise doesn't help you when you're left to try to recover from the theft of your wallet or other kinds of fraud.

Sure, away from the implementation details it doesn't make sense. Who cares?