Contactless Credit Card Usage Grows, Survey Suggests Bright Future

MasterCard issued a press release last week touting the results

of its PayPass contactless payment technology in retailers where

it is accepted. At the same time, a new survey reinforced the

message by reporting that over half of all respondents were

willing to use contactless cards to buy gas, fast food, groceries,

reported nearly 10 million PayPass cards and devices on the

market and approximately 32,000 merchant locations around the

world that accept PayPass, including McDonald's, 7 Eleven, CVS,

pro football and baseball stadiums, and more. Looking at consumer

card usage data from a major but unnamed issuer of PayPass-enabled

cards, MasterCard reported a 36% increase in overall card usage

and a 45% increase in total transactions compared to the same

230% increase in usage at PayPass merchants and a 270% increase

in the number of transactions at PayPass merchants was also

reported, although it's hard to say whether this reflects a

greater desire to use the card at PayPass merchants or simply

the greater availability of such merchants versus the prior

with MasterCard's announcement was the survey by Ipsos Insight

and Peppercoin, in which Ipsos translated its survey results

to mean that 100 million Americans are willing to go contactless

if the opportunity exists. Younger respondents and higher-income

respondents were most likely to view contactless payments favorably,

while those who would shun the cards say security is their biggest