Mobile payments are poised to be the future, but what are your rights when using a smartphone as a method of payment?
The truth is that technology is far ahead of the law. During a recent hearing, it emerged that as the transaction is processing when you use your phone to pay for something, the merchant can swoop into your phone and steal personal info from you. It may be your address or it may be other places where you’ve spent money.
Now, I love new technology and often jump in with both feet first before I think about the implications. But this time will be different for me.
Even though I think mobile payment platforms can be great if done right, I want to warn you away from them. They are not safe right now. Don’t sign up for any of them, whether it’s paying with your phone at Starbucks or anything else you’ll see this year and the next.
The reality is we need rules of the road and they don’t exist right now.
Now, when it comes to banking on your mobile phone, it’s a different story.
My phone runs four apps from the discount broker I use, the mutual fund company I use and a couple from the two credit unions I use.
I do it without fear. But that makes me unusual. Two-thirds of Americans are in doubt about the safety of mobile banking.
To date, there’s been no meaningful and significant breach of mobile banking apps. It doesn’t mean there won’t be. But they were created in an era when everyone’s so freaked out about data breaches already. So they may be safer than web-based browsing when it comes to doing banking because they were engineered in a climate of fear.
Consumer expert Clark Howard's column appears here each Thursday in conjunction with Deal Spotter, a weekly print section in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Find more answers to your consumer questions at Clark's website. And get more savings tips from Clark's previous blog posts.
-- Clark Howard -- Save More, Spend Less, Avoid Rip-offs -- for the Atlanta Bargain Hunter blog
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