The Rise of Unattended Contactless Payments with Debit Cards

For everyday small purchases like coffee in the morning and afternoon snacks, Canadians gravitate toward using Interac Flash cards featuring contactless debit payment convenience. It’s effectively the same as using their own pocket cash, minus the pesky coins and bills of course. Going forward, this trend should continue to evolve as more small ticket retail will become automated with self-serve systems. Rather than lining up to deal with a cashier, consumers will be able to enjoy faster unattended contactless debit payment via a kiosk or vending machine, with reduced queues and transactions that are as a quick as a tap. The advantage of paying with Debit for consumers is “being in the black” – using their own money, securely transferred electronically straight from their bank account. Unattended contactless debit payment should witness a surge in popularity amongst Canadians, and MONEXgroup offers the ideal solution.

MONEXgroup is at the forefront of the move toward unattended contactless debit payment. In 2016 we successfully launched Canada’s first unattended Contactless Only payment technology that is fully PCI certified and supports Visa payWave, MasterCard Tap & Go, Interac Flash and Apple Pay. The contactless only terminals have been successfully deployed across Canada at gas stations with our tire inflation and car vacuum payment applications which are already seeing strong contactless debit usage, given the preference of consumers to handle smaller purchases via debit. Similarly, our “Tap & Wash” solution for the carwash industry has been received with great enthusiasm. Self-serve carwash customers can now tap their contactless debit or credit cards against our waterproof unattended payment terminal to activate the equipment and get their vehicles sparkling clean. The carwash solution is expected to roll-out nationwide in 2017 and become the new norm for the traditional “coin carwash”.

What makes MONEXgroup the market leader is the added value that we offer. We are the only payment processing company in Canada able to develop, obtain all of the required approvals and certify a purely contactless payment system for unattended applications that includes both contactless debit in addition to credit card support. Alternative solutions in the market are not able to process contactless debit payment although they may accept contactless credit. We understood that Canadians enjoy using Interac Flash for the smaller ticket items, so we went the extra mile to ensure the inclusion of contactless debit support. Of course there are also non-contactless unattended payment solutions prevalent in the market that use swipe and insert methods, but these systems prove to be less efficient for consumers and they represent added maintenance costs for operators since they are more susceptible to damages and require key injection. A contactless only system is extremely fast for users, resulting in an improved customer experience. Cost of ownership is minimized for the business with dramatically lower maintenance costs via the contactless only platform as the fully-sealed tamperproof enclosure prevents damages plus there is no key injection requirement. Popular Interac Flash FAQ

1. How many people in Canada use Interac Debit?

Interac Debit is the leading payment choice in Canada, particularly for making small purchases. According to Interac.ca, when Canadian consumers reach for a card, 56% of the time they choose Interac Debit vs. other paying with other cards. By having a Debit card, it helps Canadian consumers make everyday transactions simple and consumers can rest assured that they’re using their own money straight from their bank account and won’t have to worry about it later! In 2015, there were 24.8 million monthly users of Interac Debit in Canada.

2. What does using Interac Debit mean to Canadian consumers?

Interac Debit and Interac Flash transactions occur online so it allows customers to track of their spending. Since all debit transactions are approved by the cardholder’s financial institution, appears immediately on their personal banking account records, allowing the customers to monitor their account balance in realp-time. Chip-enabled Interac Debit and Interac Flash cards are extremely secure and are protected from fraudulent-acts such as skimming, duplicating and electronic pick-pocketing. According to the Interac website, their mission to tackle Interac Debit card fraud has resulted in instances plummeting by 70% in the last two years.

3. How does choosing Interac Debit benefit merchants in communities across the country?

Using one’s Debit card is most often the lowest cost payment acceptance method for Canadian merchants.  On the other hand, credit cards can incur higher costs as fees are percentage based, and can range from 1 to 5 % of the total amount that consumers are spending.

Myth #1: Criminals can electronically steal consumers’ personal financial information

Interac’s chip-based technology protects their consumers from electronic pick pocketing, skimming, counterfeiting and duplicate transactions. The information that is stored in the contactless debit contains encrypted codes which cannot be deciphered.

Myth #2: Accidentally paying for something you didn’t want when your wallet is too close to the Tap reader

In order to activate contactless debit payment, your debit card must be within four centimeters of the merchant’s terminal for the transaction to complete.

Myth #3: RFID technology isn’t safe and criminals can easily steal information you’re your debit card

Debit cards don’t use RFID technology, because RFID is used for tracking inventory, toll collecting, and animal tagging. Contactless debit payment uses RF – enabled smartcard technology, which is hard to duplicate and is designed to protect sensitive information.

Myth #4: Contactless debit technology isn’t as secure as credit cards

The number on the debit card is an identifier and not an account number making it harder for thieves to access the information. In fact, every debit transaction is assigned a unique number so the information that is stored is usually invalid after a while (Myths related to Interac Flash).

Since the recent arrival of Contactless Debit & Credit Card technology and widespread adoption in the Canadian market, MONEXgroup has been at the forefront of this trend and we have been consistently improving our POS solutions to support contactless innovations and remain a market leader. We are proud to have launched and successfully deployed North America’s first Contactless Only payments system.

MONEXgroup is the one and only payment processing company in Canada that integrates unattended Contactless Only payment technology into any Self-Serve Kiosk or vending machine with PCI certification for Visa payWave, MasterCard Tap & Go, Interac Flash and Mobile Payments such as Apple Pay and Android Pay (coming soon). So, what are you waiting for? Embrace the future and contact MONEXgroup today to discuss your integration requirements for a self-serve vending solution that will help leapfrog existing technology and accelerate your business!