Chase Cards Are Joining the Contactless Payment Wave

Robin Saks Frankel
By Robin Saks Frankel 
Published
Edited by Kenley Young

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First you swiped, then you dipped. Now, if you're a Chase cardholder, you can add tapping to your money moves.

The issuer is integrating tap-and-go contactless payment on all of its Visa credit and debit cards by the end of 2019, joining the ranks of other cards and payment providers that offer this functionality.

“Tapping to pay will help speed our customers through checkout with the ease and confidence of paying with Chase,” Abeer Bhatia, president of card marketing, pricing and innovation for Chase Card Services, said in a statement.

Using contactless payment can speed up the overall checkout process, since a quick tap of your card can be faster than swiping a magnetic stripe or dipping the card into a terminal reader. Both of those methods require a few seconds of delay before a card is approved. Chase notes contactless payments are also secure. As with a chip card, when you make a contactless transaction it will generate a one-time security code that protects your information.

What is contactless payment?

Any device equipped with technology such as near-field communications (NFC) can pass a signal to a similarly enabled terminal to make a secure payment. In addition to credit and debit cards, this technology is also used on key fobs, entry cards and mobile wallets on smartphones.

Chase already offers Chase Pay as a form of contactless payment via a mobile phone app. Other products offering tap-and-go payment include Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, select Mastercards and select Capital One cards. Several "wearables" and other connected devices allow contactless payments as well.

What does this mean for you?

Chase will begin rolling out updated cards to customers who have cards up for renewal or who just opened new accounts. Chase says Chase Freedom Unlimited® and Chase Slate® customers will be among the first to receive their new cards. The company expects that all of its Visa credit cards, including all co-branded cards, will have tap-to-pay functionality by the first half of 2019. Chase debit cards will come equipped with the tap-to-pay feature by the second half of 2019.

To find out when a specific contactless Chase card will be available, see the issuer's FAQ page.

Cards equipped with contactless technology will still be usable at terminals that don't accept this method of payment. The cards will still have a dippable chip and magnetic stripe on the back for merchants that haven't yet upgraded their systems.

Chase Cards from our Partners
Chase Freedom Unlimited Credit Card

on Chase's website

Chase Freedom Unlimited®
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NerdWallet Rating
Rewards rate

1.5%-6.5%

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on Chase's website

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
5.0
NerdWallet Rating
Rewards rate

1x-5x

5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases.

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Intro offer

60,000

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

Points
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on Chase's website

Chase Freedom Flex℠
5.0
NerdWallet Rating
Rewards rate

1%-5%

Earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Earn 5% on Chase travel purchased through Ultimate Rewards®, 3% on dining and drugstores, and 1% on all other purchases.

Cashback

Intro offer

$200

Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.

See more Chase cards

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