SAN FRANCISCO — Wells Fargo announced plans to begin distributing Wells Fargo Visa Platinum Credit Card and Wells Fargo Visa Signature Credit Card with Visa Contactless to customers in the second half of 2006.
"At Wells Fargo, we pride ourselves as being at the forefront of technology solutions that help our customers securely conduct their financial transactions when, where and how they want," said Peter Ho, Wells Fargo Card Services vice president and product manager. "We believe our customers will benefit from the speed and convenience offered by this exciting technology."
Cardholders simply hold their cards near a secure reader at checkout instead of swiping them or handing them to a cashier. Cardholders will not be required to provide a signature for most purchases under $25, and contactless merchants will not have to provide a receipt for purchases under $25 to cardholders (unless requested by the cardholder). Customers also will be able to continue to use their cards in the traditional way at more than 24 million Visa acceptance locations worldwide.
Visa Contactless also offers merchants a wide range of benefits, including the ability to streamline store operations, allowing employees to focus on customer service and fulfilling orders instead of handling cash. Contactless also increases checkout transaction speeds for merchants and customers.
"Because transactions are faster and more convenient for consumers and merchants, Visa Contactless technology has enjoyed one of the fastest adoption rates of a new payment technology," said Brian Triplett, senior vice president of emerging product development at Visa. "Around the world, almost 4.5 million Visa cards are equipped with the contactless feature and more than 30,000 merchant locations in the U.S. accept contactless payments. We are excited to have Wells Fargo join us in bringing contactless to its extensive customer base."
The new card will offer built-in security with the WellsProtect program. With this program, cardholders are protected against any unauthorized transactions, when reported promptly, made at merchants, over the phone, on the Internet or at the ATM. Wells Fargo, with Visa, protects cardholders from fraud with no liability to the customer.
