Left your wallet at home? You may still be able to grab some cash.
Starting on Monday, Wells Fargo will be the first major U.S. bank to offer a card-free option at all of its ATMs. The bank’s customers will be able to use their smartphones to access any of the bank’s 13,000 ATMs. Other major U.S. banks have rolled out card-free ATMs in limited locations.
Here’s how it works: Customers must download and log into the Wells Fargo app on their smartphones and request an eight-digit code, which they can type into an ATM instead of inserting a debit card. Next, they enter their PIN, just as they would if they were using their cards.
Wells Fargo is offering the cardless option at a time when consumers are increasingly comfortable with using their phones to check their balances, deposit checks and transfer cash, says Jonathan Velline, head of branch and ATM banking for Wells Fargo. Using the phone to tap into an ATM is a logical next step, he says.
The card-free option can be more secure than using a debit card, Velline says, because it reduces the chance that fraudsters can steal and copy the numbers on your debit card. The smartphone app generates a unique code that expires within 30 minutes.
Plus, consumers using the app have to prove their identity on their smartphones – either by providing their thumb print or by typing in their online banking password – in addition to entering their PIN numbers. (With your physical debit card, you only need to provide the PIN code.)
Consumers can expect to see more cardless ATMs over the next couple of years. JPMorgan Chase is testing the technology at some locations, while Bank of America has introduced a card-free option at about half of its ATMs. For Bank of America, some machines currently accept mobile wallet programs, such as Apple Pay and Android Pay. Consumers need to only tap their smartphones on or near the ATM, provide their passcode or thumbprint on the phone, and then enter their PINs into the ATM. Wells Fargo says it is upgrading its ATMs to incorporate the digital phone readers and hopes to make the mobile wallet technology more widely available throughout this year and next year.
Banks are also working on programs that can help people cue up transactions even before they reach the ATM. For example, Bank of America said it is rolling out a service this summer that lets customers use their smartphone apps to say how much money they want to withdraw and what kinds of bills they need. Then they show up at an ATM, sign in and collect the cash. (Requests expire within 24 hours.)
Use of the card-free options is still in the early stages, says Sarah Grotta, who heads the debit card research for Mercator Advisory Group, a payments research firm. Consumers have been slow to use mobile wallet options such as Apple Pay, so it may be awhile before most people leave their debit cards at home, she says.
Still, she expects the technology will catch on.
“People are interested in doing more with their phones,” Grotta says. “So eventually we will get there.”
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