MSU Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) began issuing all of its Visa debit and credit cards with contactless technology for Tap to Pay use, a faster, easier, and more secure way to pay, on July 1, 2020.
“With MSUFCU’s introduction of the Visa Signature cash back card as a contactless card last year, many members were pleasantly surprised by the convenience of Tap to Pay,” said Deidre Davis, MSUFCU’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Tap to Pay is a safe and easy way to pay. It not only eliminates physical contact, including the need to enter a PIN, it’s faster, taking only one to two seconds to complete transactions compared to up to 45 seconds for cards with chip technology.”
Tap to Pay uses a technology called NFC (near field communication). Each card has a contactless NFC chip and radio frequency (RFID) antenna. To use Tap to Pay, simply wave the card one to two inches over the terminal, and a one-time code is transmitted to complete the transaction. The code is sent with payment information that does not expose actual account details, so consumers don’t have to worry about account information being misused or stolen.
And, Tap to Pay is becoming widely accepted. According to a Forbes article, more than 60% of Visa payments are contactless and 75% of the top 100 merchants accept contactless payments through Tap to Pay.
MSUFCU is issuing contactless cards to members whose cards are renewing, as well as all new cardholders.