MasterCard Pay Pass RFID Credit Card Comes To Canada

MasterCard and Citi Bank have teamed up with Petro Canada to bring Canadians a new payment technology. Pay Pass terminals have been set up at almost every movie theater and Petro Canada gas stations in Canada. Consumers with Pay Pas enabled credit cards can simply push the card against the payment terminal which will immediately process the transaction. Card holders will only need to sign for their purchase if the total is below $50 CND. The new Pay Pass enabled credit cards still have the usual magnetic stripe that enables the cards to be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted.
A MasterCard representative would not disclose what technology the new credit card uses. However, Mastercard has previously ordered Texas Instruments 13.56MHz RFID chips. These would give the cards a range of about 1.5″.
Canadians can sign up for a MasterCard PayPass online, over the phone, or by mail. This is the first RFID trial I have seen in Canada and I hope it will be successful. Having to remove a credit card from your wallet is so 2004.