AppleInsider Staff
Focused on security and convenience, the newly announced "Final" creates a unique credit card number for each retailer a customer does business with, and allows users to easily generate a new number using either their iPhone or a traditional, physical card.
Unveiled this week, Final is billed as a "credit card, a mobile app, a better credit experience, a consumer advocate, and a way to protect your account from fraud, breaches, and card cancellation." In addition to a physical card with Chip & PIN security that can be used in person, users will also be able to generate new credit card numbers with an accompanying iPhone app for online and virtual purchases.
The unique, vendor-specific credit card numbers created by Final can be for just a one-time use, or they can be persistent to allow ongoing charges. This helps to prevent fraud and any potential unexpected charges.
Final will also tightly integrate with the iPhone by allowing users to create monthly payment limits for each merchant they do business with. In the event that a merchant goes over a custom-set limit, iPhone users will receive a push notification alerting them of the spending.
The Final card will also offer detailed budget breakdowns, allowing users to see where they are spending their money. The service also allows users to receive real-time transaction receipts pushed to their iPhone. And users can also limited their ability to spend based on their personal budget.
A browser extension is also planned, allowing users to automatically create a new number in one click and auto-fill payment fields on a merchant's website. Final will also reportedly work with NFC-based digital wallet services, though it didn't specifically address the forthcoming Apple Pay service.
Final is now accepting signups for a beta test the company plans to launch in early 2015, but cautioned that a first-quarter launch "depends on many variables."
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31 Comments
Hahaha! If you have a recent iPhone, you certainly don't need this. You'll use Apple Pay.
BoA has that feature for ages but it is still a pain to generate a number each time. Apple Pay is a way better solution. I could see myself doing all online shopping on either iPhone or the new iPad.
1) This is what I've been wanting for online purchases but my guess is Final will need to act as a middle man between the merchant and the financial institution for this to work. I'd rather see a system where the financial institution generates the per merchant numbers, like how the financial institutions creates the per device number for ?Pay. 2) I wonder if it's too early to ask 1Password to start working on adding this feature so that each Login can be assigned unique "card" information for easy one-click payments.
[quote name="SolipsismX" url="/t/182736/final-will-allow-iphone-users-to-easily-create-a-new-credit-card-number-for-each-retailer#post_2615786"] 2) I wonder if it's too early to ask 1Password to start working on adding this feature so that each Login can be assigned unique "card" information for easy one-click payments.[/quote] That would still require a middle man to tell the bank what card that really is. Rather than Apple Pay where the bank gives you a number etc
With all these cc #'s being generated, it seems they will eventually need to be re-cycled. How, then can a refund be processed back to my one-use, disposable number, when the number may have already been re-assigned to someone else? Such a refund may occur 6 months or more in the future.