Update 7/6/20: Bank of America has set up a F.A.Q now regarding contactless cards.
- Credit: Anytime a card is mailed it will have contactless capability.
- Debit: Contactless debit cards will be available upon request in late 2020.
Update 7/10/19: Bank of America is planning to replace all cards to contactless by 2020 or prior to the card expiring. Hat tip to reader VG
Bank of America is the latest card issuer to begin issue contactless credit and debit cards. Some card members have received an e-mail in the past few days informing them that a new card will be issued and this will include contactless functionality. Chase was the first major issuer to begin issuing contactless cards and Wells Fargo made a similar announcement at the start of last month as well.
To begin with Bank of America will be reissuing cards to all people with an address in New York, Boston or San Francisco. These cities were chosen because of the number of contactless merchants available, for example contactless cards can now be used in the NYC subway system.
Bank of America will be using these cities as a test to determine if rolling out contactless cards nationwide is worth the expense or not.
Hat tip to reader SD
I just received the new credit card from Bank Of America and had no idea this was happening until they sent me an email 2 days ago. The email was generic about a new card coming but nothing about why. The card I received was preactivated.
I’ve been using contactless ATM cards from WF for several months now. The old cards were always coming out of ATMs covered with rubber and other dirt. It was disgusting. The new experience is infinitely better. I only need to bring the card close enough to the designated spot to hear the reassuring sound — no physical contact required.
You don’t even need to use a physical card with most WF ATMs. Just use a one-time code from the app.
I received an email I think early last week asking me if I wanted to update my premium rewards bofa to contactless. I clicked yes and got the card in the mail today. I didn’t have this option for my other bofa cards but I am not in any rush.
It’s a good thing only if merchants don’t require you to sign
BoA is behind the times
It’s kind of astonishing that contactless POS terminals haven’t been mandated by law in light of Covid-19. It’s the one thing in a store that practically every customer will touch, especially in places that still require you to hit “OK” to confirm the transaction amount and/or sign – whereas with contactless you tap and go (except for large purchases).
How do you make a contactless version of a terminal for a place (such as a restaurant) where you want to be able to add a tip? I’ve never seen one.
Meanwhile, it takes no more touching to use a chip credit card* than contactless in many situations. Not every store makes me press “OK” when I use a chip card. And meanwhile some terminals require me to press “OK” before they’ll accept a contactless payment!
While at some stores, especially with self-checkout, you have to touch the screen (often multiple times) to get to the point of payment, even if you don’t have to touch anything once you’re making the payment.
So unless they can come with touch-less way of doing EVERYTHING (specifying tips, saying you don’t want to buy any bags, looking up a produce item, specifying your loyalty account, etc), I don’t know what there is to “mandate” about contactless to solve “touching” issues, because in my experience the touching I have to do is more often the same for contactless as with chip credit cards*.
What they should have mandated IMHO is having hand sanitizer stations next to any terminal which you have to touch. Some indie restaurants I’ve done pickup at have done that, but big places like Kroger haven’t (there may be hand sanitizer stations somewhere in the store, but typically not in the self-checkout area that I’ve seen).
*I guess there may be a difference with debit cards (if it requires PIN), but I never use debit cards at retail stores. But how do you specify “credit” vs “debit” (when using a debit card which can run on a credit network) without touching anything (if you care which way the transaction runs) with contactless? Contactless only eliminates touching if there are no questions to be answered.
All valid points, but a significant amount of transactions can be done completely contact-free – basically anything that doesn’t involve tips or where the vendor doesn’t require signatures, and in this era, everything helps to keep people safe.
I’ve had a few transactions at Square terminals where the cashier now does all of the touching, i.e. they’ll ask if it’s credit/debit and enter the information for you. Even if it’s contact-free, they only present the slot to you and you don’t touch the terminal at all.
Plus, adding contactless is really just an added feature that people like, it’s not like the stripe/chip goes away, and brings the US into the modern era. All of Europe/Asia have had contactless cards for years now.
Actually contactless is better for tipping than contact cards because the specification does not have the card authenticate the amount of the transaction like contact cards. Observe things like gas pumps and vending machines where the card is tapped before the final amount is known. Those rapid contact implementations that allow you to remove the card at grocery stores before the transaction finishes basically copied the contactless system.
Europe has been using contactless cards for how many years now?
20+. I had a contactless debit card in 2001.
USA! USA! USA!
The USA is slow at everything. It took us forever to get EMV chips on the cards and USA still failed because they didn’t enable chip and PIN but rather just chip and signature which is absolute garbage. Not surprised that USA is last in adopted contactless cards.
Europe also has no point game and little or no protection credit card fraud. So they can take their contactless and shove it. Oh, and the virus is not transmitted via contact, you need to lick random doorknobs to contract it that way.
But do wash your hands frequently, I do not want your other cooties.
Seems like they are doing a wide rollout now, at least for the credit cards. See https://promo.bankofamerica.com/taptopay/faqs.html
Can I request a contactless debit or credit card?
Credit: Anytime a card is mailed it will have contactless capability.
Debit: Contactless debit cards will be available upon request in late 2020.
Just called in and requested one.
Happened to notice that the Travel Rewards and Premium Rewards card pictures on the application page now show the contactless symbol on the front of them.
Someone mentioned on FlyerTalk that when they spoke to a customer service agent at B of A they were told that everyone will be getting replacement contactless cards starting in May. Hopefully this is correct information.