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MCX Executive: Social Security Number Won't Be Required, Most Customers Don't Use Major Credit Cards

Let me reformat the payment process as Rankin describes it:
  1. you say you want to pay via mobile,
  2. "You pull out the phone,
  3. (unlock your phone with PIN or Touch ID, a step Rankin omits here)
  4. open the app,
  5. click pay and a QR code is displayed.
  6. She scans it
There is no step 7! "It's frictionless." :rolleyes:
 
Incentives/loyalty points don't have to be connected to a payment method...in most stores they aren't.

samcraig said:
Target, with their store card offers 5%.

Who knows if other retailers will follow.

Nor what other types of incentives/loyalty programs will exist.
Click to expand...
 
If most buyer aren't using credit cards, then why are they seemingly so desperate to implement this scheme to actively block credit card use?

75 percent of all purchases made at the 50 MCX merchants (including Walmart, Target, Lowe's, and more) are done with cash, debit cards, and gift cards, rather than with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express credit cards.
Click to expand...
Oh now I see. Most people are using payment methods that aren't providing track able marketing data and they wish to commoditize the buyers.
 
Uhhhh, no

We have a choice.

One system designed from the ground up with security and privacy built in.

And

One system tested with an insecure configuration and then "based on customer feedback" has on half ****d security scabbed on.

No question which one I will use.
 
diegogaja said:
Incentives/loyalty points don't have to be connected to a payment method...in most stores they aren't.
Click to expand...

Macys, Sears, Target, and many others have their own store credit card that is tied into their loyalty and incentives programs. These are the types of merchants in the exchange.
 
milo said:
Sorry, I still don't buy the idea that there's this big group of people who have smartphones (and I specifically said smartphones, not iPhones) but no credit cards.
Click to expand...

There's a very large population of people that have MasterCard-enabled debit cards. They function like credit cards, but are using your own cash, either loaded onto the card directly or is debiting from a bank account. I have two pre-paid "credit" cards in my wallet and my girlfriend's bank card functions as a MasterCard. So it's not as simple as "everyone having a credit card". There's a grey area there where people need personal wealth in order to take advantage of credit-like cards.
 
Despite the quick rewrite of history it is still costing the CurrentC member merchants Holiday sales. They are locking out over Six Million (at last count - and growing rapidly) Apple Pay customers. Black Friday is coming! In this economy no merchant can afford lost sales. Best Buy is in trouble - they just closed their store near me (in The Landmark Center in Boston's Fenway neighborhood). As a CurrentC merchant they're idiots to ignore the bottom line.

Oh we'll the continuing bad publicity I'm sure will bring about another round of revisionist history. We'll all be entertained.

When it comes to the economics of CurrentC - Figures lie and Liars figure. Go figure
 
Some of the issues I have with the MCX Executive:
he does "not expect to have those requirements" when CurrentC launches in early 2015
He is not saying that Social Security numbers won't be required but he doesn't EXPECT it?? How at this point is he not sure whether or not they will require it.

Finally, Rankin once again addressed the exclusivity agreements that bind all MCX members, stating that exclusivity terms are "closer to months than years."
From all the reports the members of MCX joined in 2012 so if the exclusivity terms are closer to months than years than the exclusivity would of expired by now.
 
teknikal90 said:
'outrage' aside. i feel sorry for these guys.
big ideas with possibility for massive expansions - but came into the market at completely the wrong time.
imagine throwing your life into this thing for years, only to suddenly see the september keynote by apple on tv one morning, mere weeks/months before your planned launch.
Click to expand...

Apple pay will have nothing to do with this failing, even if it had no competition it has so many problems and will fail on its own merits.
 
Numbers

I can't see any reason for drivers license or SS#. This is a direct connection and draw from your bank account. So all you need is your bank account number and its password, right? :rolleyes: Simple.
 
aduzik said:
Let me reformat the payment process as Rankin describes it:
  1. you say you want to pay via mobile,
  2. "You pull out the phone,
  3. (unlock your phone with PIN or Touch ID, a step Rankin omits here)
  4. open the app,
  5. click pay and a QR code is displayed.
  6. She scans it
There is no step 7! "It's frictionless." :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
That's exactly how the Starbucks mobile payment system works, which is quite successful. Just saying. ;)
 
They keep changing their story. First it was about avoiding credit card fees, but now they say it will support credit cards. So what is it all about? The thing that makes the most sense is tracking a person's purchases between stores.

Essentially they're trying to invent IRL ad-tracking cookies. "You bought Sudafed at CVS and chicken noodle soup at the grocery store? Here's a coupon for Kleenex. Hope you get over that cold soon!"
 
aduzik said:
Let me reformat the payment process as Rankin describes it:
  1. you say you want to pay via mobile,
  2. "You pull out the phone,
  3. (unlock your phone with PIN or Touch ID, a step Rankin omits here)
  4. open the app,
  5. click pay and a QR code is displayed.
  6. She scans it
There is no step 7! "It's frictionless." :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I believe there's another step. Per the CurrentC support doc, you need to enter a passcode once you open the app (which makes sense, for security purposes). So after open App -- enter passcode.
 
75% of transactions or 75% of revenue?

Are food stamps counted in this 75%? They are on a debit card & make up a large portion of Walmart transactions.
 
"You pull out the phone, open the app, click pay and a QR code is displayed. She scans it, and you're done... It's frictionless."

zR1qxFd.jpg
 
What if there is poor data inside the store?

This thing is just bound to fail, its a shame they are making stores stop apple pay. But so far only cvs and rite aide have disabled NFC. I used apple pay at home depot yesterday, worked fine.
 
The 25% of transactions currently by credit card will be larger in both revenue and profit for the retailers than the 75% not by credit card.
 
Simply doesn't make sense

MacRumors said:
[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]

Another issue has been CurrentC's ability to link to a customer's bank account, allowing merchants to avoid paying costly credit card fees, a feature Rankin says is actually based on customer preference. 75 percent of all purchases made at the 50 MCX merchants (including Walmart, Target, Lowe's, and more) are done with cash, debit cards, and gift cards, rather than with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express credit cards.

Article Link: MCX Executive: Social Security Number Won't Be Required, Most Customers Don't Use Major Credit Cards
Click to expand...

If only 25% of consumers pay with credit cards, why would CurrentC fret about losing the service charges to credit card companies? That doesn't make logical sense, does it?
 
75 percent of all purchases made at the 50 MCX merchants (including Walmart, Target, Lowe's, and more) are done with cash, debit cards, and gift cards, rather than with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express credit cards.
Click to expand...

and

MCX has previously said CurrentC will accept debit and credit cards in addition to connecting directly to a checking account, and Rankin downplayed the focus on connecting to a user's bank account, saying that he doesn't expect it to be the most prevalent CurrentC payment method.
Click to expand...

Wut?
 
jdogg836 said:
Still not interested. Convoluted, requires direct linking to a bank account which is scary, and overall not an elegant solution. NFC payments are the future. Apple Pay and Google Wallet are the correct solution.
Click to expand...

As a proud owner of a beautiful new iPhone 6, who spent some of this morning scanning in credit cards, I can say this: NFC-only methods do not work with iPhone 5S, 5C, 4S, etc. MCX will work with these.
 
Rigby said:
That's exactly how the Starbucks mobile payment system works, which is quite successful. Just saying. ;)
Click to expand...

Touche ;) But I still don't understand it. I tried it a couple of times at Starbucks when it first launched and lining up your phone with their scanner is awkward, and you really start feeling embarrassed after five-ish seconds of waiting for it to scan, particularly when I could have just handed them the card.

I did use Apple Pay at Home Depot yesterday and honestly, it wasn't any more convenient than using my card. And Apple Pay is by far the best implementation of mobile payments. I will use it when I can, though, because I believe it is more secure. But once we get chip-and-pin cards? I don't know.
 
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