CLEVELAND — Contactless payments have been gaining popularity for a while now, but COVID-19 may give the tech the jumpstart it need.
While money is something we all want more of, it’s filthy. The cash you carry reportedly holds more germs than the typical household toilet. And our credit cards and the machines we put them in aren’t much better.
"It's not going to harm you and your skin by just holding on to it -- where the harm comes is when you take that and touch your face, your eye, your nose or your mouth,” said Dr. Kristin Englund, a member of Cleveland Clinic’s Infectious Disease Department.
"Anything that touches our hands can get on to our money and be passed.”
With that in mind, it’s best to handle money as little as possible. One way to help is to use contactless payments as often as possible.
You can load your credit and debit cards into popular mobile payment apps like Apple, Google, or Samsung Pay to use your phone for payments at terminals that support it.
The device uses Near-field communication (NFC) to complete the transaction securely. Many credit cards include the same technology, but most don’t take advantage of it.
To see if your card is compatible, just look for an NFC logo on the card that looks like a sideways “WiFi” symbol. If you see the symbol, you can hold your card up to a terminal and complete the transaction usually without the need for a PIN or signature. Most importantly, your card and hands don’t have to touch the terminal.
Contactless payments are already popular around the world. The U.S. has been much slower to adopt the technology for various reasons. According to a 2018 study by A.T. Kearney, the U.S. has a roughly 3% adoption rate compared to 64% in the U.K and 96% in South Korea.
It’s possible, we’ll see an increase in usage due to COVID-19. No matter what form of payment you use, it’s always best to wash your hands or sanitize them after each transaction.
Dr. Englund says, “You're never going to sterilize the money, you're never going to sterilize your environment; what you can control is how you wash your hands."