Could This Be the Next “Bright” Idea for Credit Cards?

When it comes to contactless payment cards, what is the first thing that comes to mind? For me it is the old Visa PayWave commercials that were shown a while back. In these commercials everything starts off smoothly, as everyone is either swiping or waving their credit cards at a terminal, until someone decides to pay with cash and the world seems to stop. During that time just having a contactless card probably seemed high tech (or at least it did to me), and it didn’t seem that paying for products could get any more futuristic. Nevertheless, one company has decided to take these cards to a whole new level, and light up the card industry; literally.

Thanks to a company named Oberthur Technologies, consumers can look forward to a contactless card that lights up when you make a payment. This new card called the "Smart Lumiere" was designed to notify the cardholder that a transaction has taking place while they swipe it. As of the question on which color the light will be, the answer is completely up to the bank that issues the card.

While some people will argue that this new feature is only for aesthetics, the creators believe it has value that far outweighs the "cool factor" associated with it. They believe that cardholders will benefit from the visual cue that is given as a transaction has taken place, showing that not only are contactless cards a quicker way to make payments but it is also more secure.