Biometric credit cards are more secure, but do you need one?

Credit cards started out as simple pieces of cardboard. The first “modern” credit card was used by Frank McNamara in 1950 after he forgot his wallet several times. Instead, he started using his Diners Club card to pay for his meals and then paid off the balance at the end of the month.

McNamara probably didn’t think much about security at the time, considering he had one of three existing credit cards. Credit card fraud probably wasn’t just a budding idea in the minds of thieves.

70 years later, more than 190 million adults in the United States now have a credit card in their name, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Credit card report 2023.

What started as cardboard has evolved dramatically, but so have security issues. As credit card fraud and theft increase, security features have evolved from simple signatures on a receipt to embedding microchips in cards to countless invisible artificial intelligence and machine learning protections.

Verifying your fingerprint before making a transaction is another security option that can eliminate physical card fraud completely.

You’re probably already using biometric technology every day when you unlock your phone or log into your banking app, so how long will it take for this technology to access your credit cards? Well, they do exist, especially if you use a digital wallet or virtual card.

If you’re still using a physical credit card, you can request a biometric card from your bank. But this technology – and even the use of a physical card altogether – already seems outdated. Do experts expect that 2025 will be the year of biometric cards? maybe. But not in the way you might think.

What are biometrics?

Biometrics uses an analysis of your biological characteristics to confirm your identity. As a form of two-step authentication, biometric security scans your face, fingerprint, or iris to ensure that you are, well, You.

This technology is widely used today to verify your identity at airports, hospitals and various law enforcement agencies. Biometrics also helps unlock your cell phone or laptop and log you into your favorite apps.

Whichever form of biometric lock you use, the device first creates a template of your biometrics, such as your fingerprint, then saves it on the device and matches the scan to the template when you want to access it.

What about biometric credit cards?

Biometric cards may seem futuristic, but they’re actually just another step in a long evolution of credit card security features.

The first major advance in card technology came from the Europay, Visa, and Mastercard chip, or EMV chip, which gained popularity in the United States in the mid-2000s. The gold or silver chip on the face of your card reduces counterfeit fraud by 76%. According to the visa.

Then the popularity of contactless payments increased, and it followed suit hypothetical and Digital cards Explosion in usage in 2020 in 2020 MasterCard Global Payment Study79% of people said they use contactless payments, whether via a digital wallet or tap-to-pay card function.

Biometrics is another layer of security that helps ensure that only you can use your credit card.

Some virtual cards and smartphones already use some form of biometric technology, allowing you to use your face or fingerprint to unlock your device or confirm a payment via your digital wallet.

How do biometric cards work?

Similar to how your biometrics are stored on your iPhone, your biometric information will be kept inside a scanner on your actual credit card, not on a cloud somewhere in the company’s hands. When you go to pay for an item, you place your fingerprint on your card scanner to authorize the transaction.

If your device is hacked or stolen, there is no way anyone can access your biometric data. Not even Visa will have access to your facial scan or fingerprint inside the card.

Visa has been working with biometric technology for decades, and is now using biometrics to help digitize payments with Visa Payment Passkey — a digital payment experience that contains all of your credit, debit, and banking information.

“One of our key tenants for anything we do is in biometrics – for everyone Visa payment passkey “And the actual biometric model that’s on the card — it’s only stored on the individual device,” Mark Nielsen, global head of consumer payments at Visa, told CNET.

Since biometrics is just another form of authentication that is used with contactless payment, it will work with existing contactless card readers.

Bring your credit cards up to speed

Biometric technology — even on credit cards — isn’t actually new.

“I’ve had a biometric card for 10 years,” Nielsen said. “And I was very proud, because I was using contactless payments when no one knew what that was.”

But at that time, this was not a convenient way to pay. You had to place your finger on the built-in scanner, wait for it to work, and then wait for the terminal to light up and confirm your payment.

According to Nielsen, this technology has faced many obstacles on its way to mass implementation. If the goal of these cards was to make payments easier and more secure without sacrificing convenience, technology hasn’t kept up.

“Ten years ago, they thought the way this would work is you would actually have a battery-powered card,” Nielsen said. “You can put your finger on the sensor and that will unlock the card, and then you can use it.”

Although they were able to add a battery to the piece of plastic, it wasn’t as cheap as making a card without any fancy technology attached, nor did it fit easily in your wallet or pocket. Today, they have found a way to charge the scanner using a card reader, without having to connect a battery. So why don’t we all have a biometric card? It is expensive to manufacture.

“That’s why it took so long to perfect this,” Nielsen said. “It’s an expensive technology, so the card itself is much more expensive than a traditional card.”

Are biometric credit cards more secure than other credit cards?

The problem is that biometric cards solve a problem that’s not as prevalent as it used to be: actual credit card fraud. Although it’s still there (this is your friendly reminder to check the gas station Card skimmers) Body fraud is no longer as common as it was just a few years ago.

At the time, cards used magnetic strips to contain card information and facilitate payments. Swiping your card was the primary method of payment, but it was relatively easy to forge chips. However, since the introduction of EMV chip cards, fraud on physical cards has decreased significantly.

In fact, 93% of fraud charges occurred while the card was still in the possession of its rightful owner, according to Security.org. This means that bad actors were able to obtain your card information without obtaining the actual credit card.

“There are many other technologies now to actually deal with the issue of a lost or stolen card, so you’re left with biometrics as a little bit more of a specialized product for someone who might be very security-conscious,” Nielsen said.

However, although it is niche, there are those who want to use this technology.

“I would definitely like to see it and would use it,” said Adam Levin, a security expert, author, and co-host of the What the Hack with Adam Levin podcast. “In my view, one can never have enough arrows in our security quiver.”

Should you get a biometric card in 2025?

Technically, biometric credit cards are already here. If you’re particularly concerned about security, Nelsen said you can contact your bank to inquire about getting a credit card with a fingerprint scanner.

Visa has a card with a biometric sensor that banks can order on your behalf, he said. “And if you use it, we will recognize it (the transaction). When it reaches our network and we see the transaction, we recognize it and process it,” he added.

Mastercard’s website says it’s also working on that Biometric scanners on physical cards But he did not say whether the cards were currently available to the public. Instead, Mastercard said it looks to your bank for more information, especially if you’re a premium customer.

Biometric card scanners are an “up-and-coming solution” that would eliminate the need for a PIN or signature, Dennis Gamilo, executive vice president of identity at Mastercard, told CNET in an email response.

Will biometric credit cards be widely available in 2025?

While physical biometric cards may not see widespread adoption rates in the United States, countries like the United Kingdom and Canada have different regulations for credit card payments that could increase their use there.

“There are some markets around the world where you can’t actually use your plastic card to its full extent,” Nielsen said. “A biometric scan will allow you to bypass this limit.”

For example, Canada has a limit of 100 CAD for transactions. France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom have a limit of 50 euros. The United States does not have a set national limit on what you can charge through contactless payment.

Although we may not see an influx of biometric cards in the United States over the next few years, it is possible that we will see broader adoption in other countries. If previous developments in card technology have taught us anything, the United States is usually a few years behind what is happening in other markets.

Look at contactless payments and EMV chip technology, for example. The first form of contactless payment It was introduced in Seoul in 1995but contactless payments did not reach the United States until 2004. EMV chip technology It has been approved by Europe in the 1990s, but was not widely adopted in the United States until 2015.

If you’re interested in getting a biometric card, talk to your bank. In addition to Visa’s offers, other card manufacturers, including Thales and SmartMetricAdvertising biometric cards. But you will need your card issuer to order one.

Do biometric cards make sense in light of the emergence of digital payments?

At least for the next few years, we’ll still likely have physical cards to carry in our wallets. While virtual credit cards, digital wallets and Visa Payment Passkey have done a lot to reduce the need for a physical card, experts don’t expect plastic and metal cards to disappear completely in the next year.

Nielsen said he doesn’t see physical cards disappearing for a long time. There’s a lot of markets and infrastructure built around physical cards, so they’re not going away anytime soon. However, he acknowledged that Visa is more focused on digital experiences.

“What is the future of cards in general?” Nielsen said. “It depends on the market and the consumer. I think in general, as more payments go digital, there won’t be a physical piece of plastic card that can be used. And so the trend will continue to see more digital use cases and digital wallets.”