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Plastc Card

plastc.com

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Re: Plastc Card

#301

Post by bradfa »

wahern wrote: post #125
bradfa wrote: post #93

What would actually be slightly lower in cost and leverage existing infrastructure better would be this Plastc card but remove the bluetooth, the touch interface, chip-n-pin, and the internal battery. Just have an app on your NFC phone and have it send the card data over NFC to the card when you want to use it. In this way you could just have an app on your phone which can work with the bank over the Net to generate…

Yes. Keep all your financial information on a general purpose consumer computer accessible over the network, and never worry about the safety of your financial data ever again ;)

I already do this. Amazon knows my credit card info, so do many other merchants. If I'm doing any kind of mobile payments thing then my phone has access to my bank somehow, too.

My concept is basically just "mobile payments" but enabling it for locations where merchants don't have the infrastructure yet. The added benefit is every transaction has a different card number, so merchants who store card numbers and get hacked provides no benefits to the thieves. Granted, any of the mobile payments things should be doing this kind of security thru obscurity, but I have no idea if they are.

This is not novel.

Re: Plastc Card

#302

Post by themoonbus »

These all-in-one cards are expensive, and in an awkward space between traditional plastic cards and technologies like Apple Pay and Google Wallet.

I really can't see these things taking off.

Re: Plastc Card

#303

Post by aestra »

baddox wrote: post #233
staz wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get how you can end up with so many cards, it's seems like a very american problem. I have 5 cards in my wallet: * Debit card and a Visa credit card: both with chip&pin and allowing me to do secure transaction on the internet * A public transport card: RFC, also allow me to rent bikes * An ID card, also with a chip&pin, allow me to sign documents and fill my taxes * An insurance card which is not even a magne…

I'm an American, and I have no idea how someone ends up with that many cards. I carry two: my credit card and by debit (ATM) card. I could easily leave the latter behind, since I very rarely use, but it feels prudent to keep it with me in case I need cash in an emergency. Beyond that, I could understand having a single company credit card if it makes sense for your job (it doesn't for mine). For gift cards, I suppose…

Well I have no fewer than 4 checking accounts. I have a debit card for all them. I don't use any of the debit cards except at the ATM once in a while so I could probably go without three of them on my person.

Then I have 4 credit cards.*

That's 8 cards right there. Then I do my shopping at 3 different grocery stores, so they all get their cards. 3 because I take advantage of the sales at each and the selection. One doesn't have some of the stuff I want but the others do. This is pretty common, I know if I want a particular product I have to go to a particular store to get it. I go grocery shopping probably 3-4 times a week because I only buy enough stuff for 1-3 meals. This is to reduce waste. Less often shopping leads to food waste for me.

Sure they can look me up, and I used to not carry the grocery store cards, but I find flashing the card about 1000 times more convenient.

We are up to 12 cards.

I have to carry two IDs, driver's license and US GOVT ID. Card count 14.

Then I have a drugstore card that I use to get "points" for filling my prescriptions. These points are really worth it - you cash them in for merchandise and they are very generous with them. While they have ALL MY INFO (after all, they need it to fill the prescription) but about 70% of the time they want my card, I don't know why. It is just a billion times easier to have it on me.

Card count 15.

Library card - card count 16.

The rest are just random rarely used loyalty cards I don't need to carry but at this point why not carry them?

I don't get gift cards.

People ask why I have so many checking accounts, and it is to better manage my money (for example, I get just enough of my paycheck auto deposited to cover automatic withdraws and put that in a separate account so I know that's my "no touch" money) and take maximum advantages of all the rewards and benefits of each card or bank account.

I don't find any of this that daunting. When you already have to carry a few adding a few more isn't that big of a deal. I don't really have a problem with carrying these around and I prefer separate cards to some "smart card" that is some electronic thing to charge and break.

*I want to mention even with 4 CCs I don't have any CC debt.

Re: Plastc Card

#304

Post by JoblessWonder »

kamkazemoose wrote: post #23
natrius wrote: post #16

They say this supports chip-and-PIN, but I don't believe them until they explain how. If I have a chip-and-PIN card from my bank, the chip has an unreadable secret used to generate one-time cryptograms to verify the authenticity of the card. There's no way to get that secret onto my Plastc card. You'd need partnerships with banks to get a new secret the way Apple Pay does. Without those, this sounds like it'll be use…

On the bottom of their wallet tab [1], they list several participating banks, so it sounds like they might have those partnerships you mention. [1] https://www.plastc.com/wallet

On an unrelated note... why does the image have so much white space?! [1] It is driving me nuts.

[1] https://www.plastc.com/assets/card-static/banks.png

Re: Plastc Card

#305

Post by Nursie »

wastedhours wrote: post #254
danielweber wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, the big benefit of Chip and PIN will be that retailers don't have any credit card information to store.

Do they hold a unique token though? Here in the UK, I've definitely gotten "loyalty" offers printed with my receipt even though I've only ever used my debit card there and not a store card.

Depending on the system they can still get an account/card number. They shouldn't be storing it but...

They can certainly get cardholder names and that sort of thing though. Maybe they've figured out a way to generate a unique token based only on non-secure data.

Re: Plastc Card

#306

Post by aestra »

encoderer wrote: post #152
dublinben wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This can be avoided today by using one card for subscriptions and other recurring payments, and another card for physical purchases. I do something similar already, where I never carry around the debit card associated with my primary checking account.

I should never use a debit card for anything anyway. You have awful fraud protection and zero to near-zero rewards. Banks will give you net-30 terms for no cost, reward you with many benefits, and give you fantastic protection from thieves AND retailers.

The big problem with debit cards is if you get it stolen then your money is taken. Sure you'd get it back eventually, but until them you don't have access to your own money and can't spend it.

Re: Plastc Card

#307

Post by aestra »

chrissnell wrote: post #87
jMyles wrote: post #35

What need does this address? Are cards taking up too much room in people's lives? This solution doesn't reduce the height or width of the encumbrance at all, and reduces the depth only by n*.76mm, where n is the number of cards that will be replaced. I don't get it. Also, http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TheZenOfProgramming

Agreed. Besides the minimal space required by using separate cards, my bank will replace my cards for free whenever they break or the stripes go bad, which happens every six months or so. Does Plastc do that?

Discover will give you a new CC every time you want to change the design on it, which you can choose from several. :)

Re: Plastc Card

#308

Post by Nursie »

natrius wrote: post #16

They say this supports chip-and-PIN, but I don't believe them until they explain how. If I have a chip-and-PIN card from my bank, the chip has an unreadable secret used to generate one-time cryptograms to verify the authenticity of the card. There's no way to get that secret onto my Plastc card. You'd need partnerships with banks to get a new secret the way Apple Pay does. Without those, this sounds like it'll be use…

The way I can see this supporting Chip and PIN is if they find a way to act as an intermediate processor -

The chip contains an application for Plastc, this is (like Amex) always acquired by Plastc (and will probably then only be allowed at participating retailers). Part of the Issuer Private Data sent in the transaction is which one of your pre-registered accounts you wish to use. That account is then charged in the background. It would work a bit like a physical Paypal.

Because unless something major has changed, I can't see banks being keen to hand over private keys to third parties.

Re: Plastc Card

#309

Post by TranquilMarmot »

bradfa wrote: post #298
penprog wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really believe you can fit an eink display, a touch screen digitizer, a microcontroller, bluetooth and nfc on a card that thin and sell it for 155 dollars?

Yes. If the eInk screen uses the card plastic in place of the glass which usually backs such a screen, it can easily be thin enough for a credit card form factor. Touch screen digitizing can be done resistively with overlaid wires over the screen. Their touch interface doesn't have to be super accurate, you only seem to touch in a few distinct locations. A microcontroller is already inside every chip and pin card on…

The only part that actually has to be as thin as a credit card is the part with the magnetic strip. Below that (where the screen is), it could be as thick as they need and still be swipeable. So they could shove the battery, charging coils, etc. behind the touch screen.

Re: Plastc Card

#310

Post by aestra »

xur17 wrote: post #19
pbnjay wrote: post #17

How in the world would remote wiping a lost card work? It only supports bluetooth from what I can find, so you'd have to be nearby?

I'm guessing it pairs with your phone, and automatically wipes once it disconnects (maybe after some timeout).

I turn my phone off in unfamiliar cities to save battery for GPS.

I turn my phone off at movie theaters and airplanes.

I rarely keep bluetooth on to save battery (I don't really use it save for once in a while) and I also quite often turn mobile data off unless I take my phone out to use it.

Sometimes it runs out of battery.

Quite often I keep my phone in a different room of my house than I am in, especially when it is charging.

Sometimes your phone breaks or malfunctions (hopefully not often).

Sometimes I just plain forget it.

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