Are your confident enough about the security of your credit cards? Do you think that your cards are safe from hackers and identity thieves because they are in your wallet? They can be still used to shop and empty your account because your debit and credit cards are always on. A hacker can easily steal your identity. Once you become a victim of identity theft or credit card fraud, your credit score can be damaged. It will take a long time to fix your credit after facing a fraud.
You often think if you can turn off and shut down access your account when you don't want it for certain time. Recently, new technology has introduced a mobile application where you can find your solution to this serious problem.
How technology will help you to prevent fraud
Ondot system, a software company based in San Jose, Ca, has introduced a mobile application that gives you “turn off” and “turn on” facility on your smartphone. You can lock the card when you don’t want to use it with the help of “cardcontrol app”. It can be easily used when you want to purchase and withdraw cash from ATM . It works with a single touch on your mobile and instantly activates when you want to use the card.
Vaduvur Bharghavan, Ondot's CEO and founder said "We created a way to let people use their mobile phone as a remote control for their existing credit and debit cards". The owner of a card can put a limit on his/her cards. Cardcontrol app is not just a “off” and “on” option. With this app, a cardholder can customize the usage of their cards. This limit may vary with the actual limit on the card issued by the credit card company. An owner also gets additional choices in this app. As for example, you can give the card out to your child confidently as well as you can set a financial goal for a certain time by using this app.
The rollout begins in 2014
Cardcontrol app is not public. At present, Ondot has not opened its product to individual customers. They are offering the product to their client. Ondot will sell the application to financial institution. After that the concerned institution will offer the app as a feature to their customers(cardholders). Ondot has announced an agreement to begin to roll out this application in 2014 during summer. The company has an agreement with BECU (Boeing Engineers Credit Union), based in the state of Washington, the 4th largest credit union.
Features Available
- User can block a specific type of transaction (online purchase, ATM withdrawal, cash transfer).
- User can limit the amount (dollar) of a transaction.
- User can stop a specific type of merchant (retail, gas or lodgings) and inform that his/her card couldn't be used there.
- User can mention a region map (city, country, state) and limit the geographic area, where he wants the card to be active. The user should go for “active around me” option to relate the area on his/her phone with the merchants. The location and the merchants’ address should match. Otherwise the transaction will not be authorized.
Pros of this application
- This application is also available for your secondary card. It will give you the same control as a primary user of another card.
- One can (particularly helpful to parents and businessman) put a limit on his card (where can be used, how much can be used) . This will help the user to ensure about the purchase location and time . The user can also ensure that his children will not spend much.
- You can prevent fraud and manage your own spending needs.
- You can have a control over impulsive buying.
- You can turn off the card when you discover your card has been stolen or lost. This will help you to minimize the chances of losing data or money.
- You are able to control over your cards through your cell phone. It doesnt matter if you left a card at your home.
- This application is also worthy for banks as they can reduce fraud and get more customer to sell credit cards.
Gerri Detweiler, director of consumer education at Credit.com. said "I think this is a brilliant way for people to help protect themselves against card fraud". Even though the customer isn't typically responsible for fraudulent charges, it's a huge hassle when you're dealing with fraud."
Cons of this application
- This application is accessible on smart phone only.
- No options are there when your cards are locked and the battery of your phone is extremely low.
Apart from this, mobile devices are functioning as a remote control in our daily lives. Now it has started controlling our account as well as payment cards! Tom Tyson, BECU's digital channel manager stated that, "People know how they use their card and how they want it to be managed, this gives them a way to take action without contacting us." He said that, this application is a simple solution to a big problem. This new technology will help people to manage their cards easily without any worry about the chances of fraud.