Visa and Wells Fargo Test Pilot Pay-by-Cellphone

SAN FRANCISCO – Visa USA said yesterday it is teaming up with Wells Fargo & Co. to test a mobile payment platform that will allow consumers to use their cellphones to pay for products and services at the checkout line. Going mobile is a high priority for Visa and banks and credit unions that issue its cards because increasingly sophisticated wireless phones are opening up new opportunities to increase the frequency of revenue-generating electronic payments. Visa and its biggest rival, MasterCard Inc., have been laying the groundwork for mobile payments by enabling contact-less transactions that enable consumers to simply wave a card or key fob over a reader instead of swiping it through a machine. Up to 50 Wells Fargo employees soon will begin paying for some products and services with specially equipped phones instead of credit and debit cards, under a test pilot, which will advance to as many as 500 Wells customers later this year.