The credit card that'll replace all your plastic is almost here

[KamaAina]

https://shopping.yahoo.com/news/the-credit-card-that-ll-replace-all-your-plastic-is-almost-here-230054545.html

When Coin released the first video of its über credit card, the response was enormous.

After 40 minutes, even though it was still just a prototype, 1,000 people had evidently forked over $50 for the super-slim electronic device that stores multiple credit card numbers and lets you use any of them with the mere push of a button. That took the company past its $50,000 pre-order goal. Just a few hours later, it had received a massive 20,000 orders for the device, which slides through checkout-counter card readers much like any other piece of plastic. Within two weeks, more than six million people had viewed the launch video that sent Coin viral. Apparently, there’s an awful lot of pent up frustration over the supposed problem of a wallet stuffed with too many credit cards....

Parashar says the main challenge to getting more Coins out the door has been scaling up manufacturing while working to ensure the devices are secure and can work everywhere. In the Coin office, tables teem with credit-card terminals of every make and model, each with its own idiosyncrasies that Parashar says the company is trying to tease out before making Coin available to everyone. “They’re almost the same but slightly different,” Parashar says of the many terminals users might find at checkout counters. “We have to be the super-set.”...

Right now, Silicon Valley is sure that traditional ways of paying belong to the past, but no one has quite figured out payments’ definitive future. If Parashar can get enough Coins out the door, that future could have one more candidate.

"working to ensure the devices are secure". If you believe that, I've got a bridge I'd like to show you.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Looks interesting...let's see how it works. n/t

[tazkcmo]

2. Wow

I miss cash.

[HuckleB]

5. Cash is good for those of us who buy on impulse.

[whatthehey]

12. Christ I don't

Fragile or heavy depending on denomination, germ-ridden, easily lost or stolen, no protection or recourse if either occurred, inconvenient requiring extra trips at gas stations and the like, no rebate or rewards programs. I've got fuck all to worry about if Agent Mike knows I bought Wheat Thins vs. Triscuits so no downside and all upside to plastic for me.

Only reason I still use any cash is for very occasional vending machine purchases and even that is because the US, or my part at least, is 20 years behind Asia and Europe in vending technology.

Hasten the day of implanted chips and retinal scans.

[tazkcmo]

22. To each his own

I'd rather deal with cash and maintain some anonymity but that's just me.

[HuckleB]

3. Umm. Yeah. Umm.

Why do people have so many credit cards?

We have one Visa card, and one backup card that we use once or twice a year to keep it up to date.

[brooklynite]

7. ...and a bank debit card?

...maybe a card from an investment account?

...Department charge card?

It starts to add up.

[HuckleB]

9. We do have a debit card, too.

But that's it, and we're lucky enough to have investment accounts, but I don't want a card for them.

[Skittles]

16. nope...just one

[JI7]

10. rewards, businesses etc

i think many people sign up for cards because of rewards they can get if htey use those cards at a store.

and then those with a business would need different ones.

[HuckleB]

11. My wife has one for business, and she travels a lot.

But it's just one.

Our main card gives us REI rebates. Multiple cards would just spread the rewards to too many places.

[JI7]

13. i don't think people realize it because the first use offer can be good

but they wont always get that same deal when they use it other times.

i have the amazon one which is pretty good because i can get points if i use the card at other places also but more if i use it at amazon.

i have one for my business also.

but i think many people end up falling for the deals when they first sign up. but in the long run they could be better off just using the same one and building up points on that one which would allow faster rewards.

[HuckleB]

17. We were married young, and we took multiple store cards for that initial deal.

Luckily, my wife is on top of that stuff, so we never got into trouble spending too much, but we quickly realized that it was just silly to have so many cards.

It's hard though. I love Sears for their tools, but every time I go there, I have to vehemently say I do not want a Sears card. And, man, do they pressure their employees to push those.

[politicat]

15. We have eight because...

I had two before marrying (a discover that gave cash back and frequent flyer points, with a low interest rate, so worth using as my primary purchase card, and a Visa that worked everywhere the Discover wasn't taken. Both offered a layer of protection between my bank account and theft, which mattered a lot when I was a very broke student and very broke first job professional.)

Spouse had three before marrying -- one for work travel, one for daily use, and one for major purchases, on a similar track.

We acquired three together, with the same premise -- one for daily use, one for major purchases for our house, and one for me for travel, because it really is easier to get reimbursed if the bursar doesn't have to wade through my fabric and book habit. We ended up on each other's accounts because it's the way to ensure that the other has survivability on the account if something happens to either of us.

We haven't cancelled the old ones because canceling accounts does credit damage. We use them rarely, just enough that it keeps the credit score happy.

There are reasons it happens.

[HuckleB]

18. Having so many also causes credit damage, too, however.

[politicat]

20. In our case, less for us than canceling.

We went through this a couple years ago. (The credit rating companies make the rules, I just use their rules to our advantage, to the extent we know the rules.)

I keep our total limits and what we use under 25% of income and 5%, respectively. We pay off every month.

I would not recommend any of my students do likewise because income/debt ratio, lifetime and temptation, but we're well into middle age, stable and established. Our personal worst case scenario (assuming academia dies and software development stops) is shred the ones we have. It's the advantage of our various privileges and yes, I'm grateful for every bit of it. Given our actual expenses, we can survive on a total of 50 hours a week of minimum wage, and if the economy is so bad that academia is dead and software is gone, we all have much bigger problems than credit.

Credit isn't one size fits all.

[Blue_Tires]

4. What's the point?

In 10-15 years all the American banks will merge and consolidate to 2-3, so you'll still only be using one card..

[FSogol]

6. Jennifer Lawrence is skeptical.

[KamaAina]

8. DUzy!

[951-Riverside]

14. I'm done spending money that I don't have.

[Avalux]

19. I have 2 cards and I love living debt free. No thank you Coin. n/t

[Glassunion]

21. Yay! An exciting new technology that will last about 3 years tops!!!

Once the Processors, and then the Merchants are are ready for US implementation of EMV, it will render this device worthless.