A contactless card is one of the more recent plastic cards available that uses RFID technology to enable the transmission of data without the contact required with chip and magnetic strip cards. It is a quicker way to authorise payments, for example, and removes the need for a signature or pin code to confirm your identity.
Contactless cards work by communicating with a reader that can confirm your identity and authorise certain actions, with the most common being contactless payments. On plastic cards, it is not possible to switch off or pause this from happening so whenever you hold the card close to a receiver, the data can be received and if a transaction is in progress it will complete if possible.
It is worth remembering that contactless cards cannot be “turned off” and can communicate with any reader within range. This is normally the situation in stores where contactless payments are possible but some other devices can catch this information too. To protect your details from being read, a card shield can be used whenever the card isn’t needed in order to block the communication from taking place.
If you find yourself asking ‘what is a contactless card’ and you want more information on them as well as if they’re a good choice for your needs, contact a member of the team at Plastic Card Services today and we’ll be happy to help.
