Technology continues to alter the way our members go shopping, complete transactions, and share joint costs, making a digital wallet a necessity.
With fewer purchases being made with checks or cash and as shopping platforms and apps dominate point-of-sale purchases, busy families, career-minded singles, and college students can all save time and benefit from using a secure digital wallet.
But all this technology is not necessarily a good thing unless it’s organized, convenient, and secure from hackers. Worry not, recent innovations offer our members that and more as they enjoy the benefits a digital wallet offers.
Saving time and energy ranks among the primary reasons busy families like to use a digital wallet. Other forms of payment at a point-of-sale location simply don’t mesh with the lifestyles of busy family members. Digging around for a wallet, counting out cash, and waiting for change is largely considered time not well spent. Shuffling through a handful of credit cards and trying to remember balances and rewards feels confusing. And no one wants to stand there writing a check as people in line grow impatient.
It’s also important to keep in mind that online sales have expanded far beyond e-commerce giants such as Amazon. Today, teens and college students typically buy things like movie tickets online and show a barcode when entering a theater. Using a digital wallet creates a no-wait process in which users tap on their phones and complete a contactless transaction.
Employing a digital wallet involves downloading an app and running through a relatively simple setup process. Following a self-explanatory step-by-step process, your credit cards, debit cards, personal identification info, and gift cards, among others, will be safely stored in a convenient spot on your cell phone. Establishing a digital wallet only takes a few minutes and allows you to breeze through retail lines going forward. Most major retailers already accept the digital wallet process, and mom-and-pop operations are catching up quickly.
Carrying cash invites the possibility of theft or losing money when a purse or wallet goes missing. This reality is one of the reasons an increased number of people once preferred carrying cards over currency. But losing credit or debit cards can also offer someone the chance to use your card information without permission. Using a digital wallet removes the physical presence of cash and credit cards.
With your card information not being stored on your device, and multiple layers of security in place, there are many hurdles preventing fraud and offering heightened security.
The ability to keep a digital wallet safe and secure has largely calmed the worry of community members. Let’s suppose that someone loses their phone during an Uber ride or leaves it in the stands at a youth sports game. If the wrong person finds it, they would need to penetrate the phone’s security features. If for argument’s sake, the phone was open when found, a digital wallet can impose a second level of cybersecurity. Users can implement fingerprint or facial recognition again to unlock the digital wallet. You can also add a simple numeric PIN.
At the next level, sophisticated hackers are still wasting their time trying to breach a digital wallet because the credit card and banking information isn’t even stored in the app. Truth be told, a digital wallet is generally more secure than many of the devices people use on a daily basis.
Utilizing a digital wallet does not prevent you from receiving the rewards you are entitled to. After establishing Visa credit card rewards, points earned for benefits such as travel and brand name merchandise seamlessly become part of digital wallet usage. Essentially, pivoting away from a physical credit or debit card to a digital wallet keeps all your perks in place and just simplifies transactions.
As innovative technologies emerge, CCCU performs thorough research ensuring it matches up with our safety and security standards prior to offering it to our membership. We can assure you that our digital wallet saves busy working families, active singles, and time-crunched college students an equally convenient and secure way to make purchases.
