Citibank Credit Card Payment Tag Offers Convenience and Security to Cardholders

Posted On: February 28, 2006

By Lydia Verret, CardRatings.com Reporter

MasterCard PayPass, a new payment option offered by Citibank, is being touted for its convenience and security. The key feature of this new technology is the PayPass payment tag. It attaches to a key ring and is available at no additional cost to Citi credit card holders. Cardholders simply hold the payment tag up to the special reader at any checkout that has the MasterCard PayPass logo and wait for the receipt. The payment tag never leaves the hand of the consumer (i.e. no swiping is required) and select merchants do not require signatures for purchases under $25.

Despite obvious security concerns, MasterCard and Citibank claim that the payment tag actually offers enhanced security features. Radio frequency identification, or RFID, is the technology used to scan the payment tag. When the payment tag is scanned, the consumer’s purchase details are processed, account information is read and approved through MasterCard’s secure network. Another security and privacy benefit to the cardholder is that no personal or account information is displayed. Finally, as mentioned previously, the PayPass payment tag never leaves the hand of the cardholder.

For a complete list of current merchants currently accepting PayPass, visit:

http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/tour/paypass

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Lydia Verrett has been a reporter for CardRatings.com for approximately a year, but has had a passion for writing for many years. Her writing career begin in high school as roving reporter for her school newspaper and yearbook. She is a proud mother of two daughters, one of which currently writes for her school paper, and resides in Memphis, TN. She also is proud to married to a firefighter who is quite the handyman.

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