you using a digital wallet? If not, you are not alone. Only about 13 percent
of smartphone users have adopted digital wallets, the relatively new
technology that allows our mobile devices to execute a myriad of
financial transactions. But digital wallets are coming of age at a
lightning pace. Companies like Due offer digital wallets
that have streamlined the way we pay for things and get paid, and are
changing the world of commerce itself. So if you have been slow to
adapt to the word of digital wallets, here are four reasons to change
your mind, and get a digital wallet today.
Security
Losing
your wallet, or worse, having it stolen, can be a disaster. You have to
systematically cancel all of your credit cards, and then get them all
reissued, deal with any theft, damage to your credit rating, and so
forth. Credit cards and other financial instruments contained in your
digital wallet, on the other hand, are inherently more secure. Your
phone itself has security measures like passcodes and fingerprint
scanning to protect other people from accessing it, and the financial
data contained in your digital wallet is itself encrypted. Thus, a thief
would have to defeat substantial layers of high-tech security before
you were rendered as vulnerable as you are walking around with an analog
wallet and credit cards in your back pocket.
Wide (And Growing) Acceptance
Another
reason to ditch the leather billfold for a digital wallet: there are
more and more businesses accepting them every single day. For example, Samsung, Apple and Android Pay
alone are accepted at ten million, three million, and one million
stores alone, respectively. The number of stores accepting digital
wallet transaction is only going to grow, too; by the end of this year,
over 37% of Americans
are expected to use a digital wallet in some sort of transaction, an
enormous growth in a few short years. Business are almost certain to
oblige them, so you can expect more and more stores, even small
businesses, to cash in on the e-payment trend.
Shop Online Instantly
One
of the best things about having all of your credit cards on your
smartphone is the ability to shop online, instantly. More and more
websites are making it easy for you to access your digital wallet while
within “store mode,” and then pay for something on the spot. Contrast
that with pulling out your plastic credit card from your old analog
wallet, then keying in your card number, name, address, and security
number onto a website you are accessing from your smartphone. The hassle
of that process alone is reason enough to ditch the old leather wallet
and go digital right away. As this technology continues to become more
popular with consumers, no doubt more and more websites will follow the
trend, and digital wallet acceptance will be the rule, not the
exception.
Load it Up
If that old leather wallet in your back pocket is a George Costanza wallet,
loaded up with every credit card, business card, hard candy and
anything else you can think of, don’t fret, you can load up your digital
wallet, too. You can put all of your credit and debit cards into it;
you can upload your loyalty and reward cards into your digital wallet as
well, and take advantage of discounts and points earned for using your
cards. Then, if you take advantage of other apps, you can turn your slim
smartphone into that giant fat wallet you love, by loading up apps like
airline rewards programs, coupon apps, contacts, post it notes and the
like. Your phone can truly be transformed into a fat wallet, with
everything you used to keep in your old leather one. Except the hard
candy.
