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U.S. Bancorp is testing a service that allows it to instantly issue debit cards featuring Visa Inc.'s payWave contactless application.
"If this proves to be an absolutely viable technology, we will consider using instant issuance of payWave in all of our branches," Lynn Heitman, U.S. Bank senior vice president, tells ATM&Debit News. The bank operates 2,847 branches.
U.S. Bank launched the pilot Friday after several months of tests, but it has not set a date for when the test will end, Heitman says. Employees of Dynamic Card Solutions LLC, an Englewood, Colo., company, that developed the software for instant card issuance, also trained bank staff to operate the machines.
HID Global of Irvine, Calif., makes the machine that manufactures the card, and Dyanmic Card Solutions brands the machine the FCP 20/20, a spokesperson says.
The bank is conducting the pilot at a combined seven branches in Salt Lake City and Denver. U.S. Bank is offering an unembossed, but personalized, payWave cards to new customers who open checking accounts.
Bank officials can make the card in one minute, after which new customers can use it immediately to access to their accounts, Heitman says.
The bank decided to issue contactless debit cards because of the growing number of merchant locations in the Denver and Salt Lake City areas that accept them and because the bank has a large number of branches in the two cities, Heitman says.
Heitman, however, did not know specifically how many merchant locations in those cities accept contactless cards. Visa also did not know.
The cards also have a magnetic stripe so customers can use them at merchant locations that do not accept contactless cards, Heitman says. ATM
