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Forget the masses of differing complicated NFC virtual wallets that no one seems to want to use, there’s about to be an exciting new modern payment method in town — the humble SMS message.
The UK’s Payment Council, the body charged with the task of ensuring all financial transactions here work properly, has approved the move, which will see it establish a massive database of mobile phone numbers and account details. The idea being that we’ll then be able to send a text message to pay someone. No fuss, no apps, no new accounts or wallets, no nothing. Just your bank asking you if you’d like to opt in or not.
As with the cumbersome NFC system, there will be daily limits in place regarding how much you’ll eventually be able to transfer by SMS request, but the people in charge haven’t had the meeting yet to decide what that will be. It should all be live and ready by 2014. [BBC]
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You’d think with all these pay by phone ‘solutions’ that carrying a debit card or having a paypal account was outrageously difficult!
For reasons beyond my pay grade, I don’t think this is going to happen. Not without a million caveats at least. Okay, maybe it could happen.
Alas, the low daily limit won’t make paying for hookers and cocaine any easier.
I pay my hookers with a fist full of pepper followed by 20ml of chloroform. They never seem to accept NFC
get skankier hookers?
Absolutely nothing could go wrong with this payment system.
I just got a phone with NFC so I wouldn’t mind a go at payments through that. Just waiting on it catching on in the UK a little.
A step backward!
This is new in the UK? I thought I just missed it happen and be promptly forgotten.
It was all the rage in Poland some 5 years ago.
I’ve seen payment by text on some games, they seem to rip you off from that payment system.