The future of the credit card

What does it take to shutter an ATM?
August 15, 2017
Could a cryptocurrency replace the credit card?
August 29, 2017
What does it take to shutter an ATM?
August 15, 2017
Could a cryptocurrency replace the credit card?
August 29, 2017

What do you think the world will look like in 10,20 even 50 years. Granted that most of us reading this will get to find out it is intriguing to dream what our world will look like. Will we recognize it?

Just take a quick look at YouTube. Videos abound from the days of yesteryear trying to predict what the world would look like today and what technology we would use. Science fiction has also weighed in and some of it has even come to pass. Fifty years ago the personal computer, the cell phone and the Internet were just a vision. The credit card was in its infancy and certainly very few other than the biggest dreamers could envision what 2017 would look like.

So what does the future hold for the credit card? Will it be obsolete or will it just take another form. Will our grandchildren ask us one day how we survived with using those thin pieces of plastic or what a dollar bill is? Let’s hope not.

The most likely future for the credit card is that it will become incorporated into our cell phones. In some ways the future is already here as a smartphone can be used to pay certain things like at convenience stores or stadiums. The probably conservative estimate for how long this will take is about 15 years from now. The plastic’s days are numbered.

In fifty years it is believed that a microchip will link us to our communication devices, thus making the cell phone obsolete. The microchip will be able to be scanned and purchases will be able to be made from it. The chip will be implanted in the hand, so all that will be necessary to make a payment is a wave of the hand. You could even attach a grocery list and scan it when you (or your robot) walk into a store and it will be assembled, bagged and brought out to you in your flying car (ok, that may not be ready yet). Need cash? Find an ATM and wave your hand. That is assuming cash still exists. Ocular implants will begin to replace smart phones so just don’t walk into a post.

In a century those innovations of 50 years from now will be obsolete. Technology will allow for facial recognition meaning that your features could access an account and provide payment. So you could hop in your flying car, head down to the grocery store where you sent your order, pay with your biometrics and be home in a jiff. Shopping will be done via holograms from the comfort of your own home (or whatever we will call a home in a century) so a 3-D representation or simulation will allow the shopper to try an item before buying it. Ecommerce will be revolutionized.

Of course this will not come easily or without controversy. Credit card companies will continue making plastic cards until it is obvious that there is no more gain in them and even then they may go kicking and screaming. Numerous privacy concerns will undoubtedly creep up and most certainly the criminal element will not cease to exist. Identity theft could come now not by stealing your login credentials but by stealing your microchip or cutting off your hand. And Big Brother will be watching. That you can count on.