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Why CurrentC Will Beat Out Apple Pay
itwbennett writes Working closely with VISA, Apple solved many complex security issues making in-person payments safer than ever. But it's that close relationship with the credit card companies that may be Apple Pay's downfall. A competing solution called CurrentC has recently gained a lot of press as backers of the project moved to block NFC payments (Apple Pay, Google Wallet, etc.) at their retail terminals. The merchants designing or backing CurrentC reads like a greatest hits list of retail outfits and leading the way is the biggest of them all, Walmart. The retailers have joined together to create a platform that is independent of the credit card companies and their profit-robbing transaction fees. Hooking directly to your bank account rather than a credit or debit card, CurrentC will use good old ACH to transfer money from your account to the merchant's bank account at little to no cost.
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/s... But seriously, give Walmart et al direct access to my bank account using 40 year old ACH technology? And trust them to have no security holes, fraud protection that credit cards provide on individual transactions, etc. etc. etc. I think not.
Worst, have you ever tried to block a transaction made against your bank account? It's next to impossible. I had allowed a private health insurance company to deduct my monthly premium from my bank account. I cancelled and they still billed me, I called again to reiterate my cancellation and demand my money back, and they billed me again. I finally screamed at the bank until they locked the account, my health insurance company called about non-payment and I finally got it fixed.
I'm never allowing that again. I don't care about the final solution, but it is never going to be to give anyone access to my bank account. I personally think CurrentC will fail because it's not what Apple or Google wants, but whatever, they can all duke it out.
This is one case where both Apple and Google could and should work together, to jointly ban the app until the companies involved open NFC back up for transactions again. Without an app CurrentC is dead in the water.
Especially Google should be upset, because Android users had working NFC payments at many of these stores for years before the ApplePay launch triggered the NFC lockout.
Frankly I'd almost be OK with both Apple and Google banning the app on the grounds of it being so close to spyware as you cannot tell the difference... it requires a lot of information and collects as much as it can that it doesn't need permission for.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Robbing? Really? Merchants don’t have to accept credit card transaction and Apple Pay cost them no more than a regular credit card transaction.
This is the only article of many of which I have read that didn’t think CurrentC was dead on arrival – before arrival actually, as it won’t arrive until next year. It will save the consumer no money per transaction, take more steps, is far less secure and has virtually no liability protections.
Credit Card companies have spent decades creating ways to discover and discourage credit card cheats. This system dispenses with all that – Caveat Emptor I guess.
Merchants expect no blowback when consumers discover this all about dodging credit card fees, avoiding liability and invading privacy to track an individual’s every purchase for marketing purposes?
Letter To Iran
And that's why I can't use US checks outside the US. Cheques from the UK are fine, even thought it's further away, but the US checking system allows reversed charges at any time, even *years* after the transaction. So many banks refuse "foreign checks" (but will accept anything but US on request), and others hold them for 45 days (the legal max), hoping if it isn't canceled by then, it won't be.
In most of the rest of the world, the ACH horror stories would be fraud, and someone could end up in jail over it. Taking someone's money without permission is fraud/theft. Unless you are in the US.
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I keep hearing this and I don't understand it. How is it any different than the majority of people who use the same credit card at different stores?
It is very illegal for a merchant to store your credit card number for more than the 5 seconds it takes to authorize the transaction, unless they implement fairly strong protection to make sure nobody can steal those numbers later. But even if they do this, it is still very illegal for them to try to share those card numbers and what they purchased, which would be necessary for different merchants to "track" your purchases.
CurrentC probably does not have this protection. Merchants would be free to store and share the fact that your CurrentC account number bought X here, Y there, and Z there. Merchants would love that ability, which is why they've designed CurrentC to allow it; as a customer, you have very little to gain from that kind of data mining, and almost definitely plenty to lose.
You know what? Pretty well, actually.
Several years ago on a whim I began asking for discounts everywhere. "Do you have any promotions you could apply to this?" is what I would typically ask. I was shocked to find that most of the time, there is something, like a 10-20% coupon or similar that they can throw at it. Or, if not a direct discount, say at a restaurant, they may give a voucher for a free dessert or appetizer. The worst answer is they say "no, sorry, don't have anything I could do" and you leave it at that.
So, while the peon running the register may not be able to change prices, they are often empowered to provide a discount if prompted.
Credit Unions are what banks were decades ago. I'll never use another bank.
Otherwise... cash.
You either leave enough float in your bank account to not have to worry about ever running out or you play the timing game constantly with your bank, who engineered the system for those delicious overdraft fees.
Right, and if you don't have money in your checking account, with a Visa debit account you will get a "transaction denied" message (switch to card B at the register) while with ACH you will get a $40 overdraft fee. If you are doing your errands, you might have five charges and owe $200 in fees. This bird won't fly.
Now watch as the blame-the-victim crowd tells me to constantly keep an eye on all of my balances instead of letting the computers handle that for me. Because progress.
My God, it's Full of Source!
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