'Final' will allow iPhone users to easily create a new credit card number for each retailer
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."
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."
Comments
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.
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.
By "this feature" I don't mean 1Password doing what Final does, but rather add a field to the 1Password database for website logins for bank cards so that site-specific card info you entered will appear as the default choice. You'd still have to get the unique card number from Final or, hopefully, your bank to manually add to each web login.
You have a 16 digit number, the CVV, an expiration date, and this can be checked against a name and address, and even have a unique PIN added as is the case with ?Pay. At 16 digits for the typical card you do have 10,000,000,000,000,000 standard options which is about 1,428,571 unique numbers per every man, woman and child on earth. That said, without the other factors in play it still could happen and with the digital add adding more values to the card number wouldn't be a huge undertaking so I could see expanded in the future.
* 10,000,000,000,000,000 ÷ 7,000,000,000 = 1,428,571.42857
is it me or did they use the same actor from the Only Coin video?
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.
Even if that happened, there could still be a record of who used that number in that instance (you, not the next person).
But a 16-digit number (assuming they go no higher than that) is 100 quadrillion possibilities. That's around 1.4 million codes for every human on Earth, including babies and those who only use cash or animal pelts.
Final = DEAD ON ARRIVAL%u2026 like Coin, 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.
You'd likely have to contact the merchant and provide a different card number. Your credit card issuer knows who you are, when you had the temporary number, and whom was paid (they authorized the payment).
Single-use/merchant-specific credit card numbers have been around for over a decade, they know how to handle it. My MBNA Quantum VISA had the feature and Bank of America acquired MBNA in 2006.
It might take a little more effort on your part though.
I'm not convinced that Apple Pay will be adopted by every single merchant on Day 1, thus the one-time-use/merchant-specific number is still a valid notion. Merchant-specific numbers can be used for utility providers (telephone, TV, power, etc.), transit cards, toll tags, etc. where there is no POS transaction.
You have a 16 digit number, the CVV, an expiration date, and this can be checked against a name and address, and even have a unique PIN added as is the case with ?Pay. At 16 digits for the typical card you do have 10,000,000,000,000,000 standard options which is about 1,428,571 unique numbers per every man, woman and child on earth. That said, without the other factors in play it still could happen and with the digital add adding more values to the card number wouldn't be a huge undertaking so I could see expanded in the future.
* 10,000,000,000,000,000 ÷ 7,000,000,000 = 1,428,571.42857
You don't have 16 digits. The top 6, I believe, specify the issuer, and certain ranges are assigned to certain banks/issuers. For example, MasterCards all start with 5, Visas with 4, 3 is Amex and a few others, and 6 is Discover and a few others. 4128 is Citibank. And there is a check digit. But they could push card numbers out past 16 digits. They already can be up to 19 digits (and at one time were 13 digits -- my first Visa card back in the late '80s was 13 digits long -- 4128 XXX XXX XXX).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_card_number
Sure, that complicates the initial comment and the first 4 digits still have to match the 12 variable digits. Note that both myself and [@]nagromme[/@] used a 7 billion figure for the statement, which is unrealistic.
They could even move to a Hexadecimal system to keep the human readable length down.
You have a 16 digit number, the CVV, an expiration date, and this can be checked against a name and address, and even have a unique PIN added as is the case with ?Pay. At 16 digits for the typical card you do have 10,000,000,000,000,000 standard options which is about 1,428,571 unique numbers per every man, woman and child on earth. That said, without the other factors in play it still could happen and with the digital add adding more values to the card number wouldn't be a huge undertaking so I could see expanded in the future.
* 10,000,000,000,000,000 ÷ 7,000,000,000 = 1428571.42857
not so fast. the CC number is divided in fields :
- first six digits (IIN) are issuer number, e.g. American Express is 34 or 37. This field is very sparsely populated, banks are restricted to 3-6 range, health cards with payment ability start with 8. This also identify the card type (credit/debit, spend limit ...)
- 9 digits for account number. That is only 1 000 000 000 per issuer IIN.
- 1 digit for verification hash.
In fact, with the no reuse rule, there was already cases of banks in EU running out of numbers in their assigned IIN range. Of course they got new ones and there is no risk of running out of the whole range, but it could happens if single use numbers become much used. The answer to that is tokenization as in apple pay.
Compare this: https://getfinal.com/
to https://onlycoin.com/
But then you have to be a BoA customer! Heaven help your poor soul...
I think Discover also offered this feature.
not so fast. the CC number is divided in fields :
- first six digits (IIN) are issuer number, e.g. American Express is 34 or 37. This field is very sparsely populated, banks are restricted to 3-6 range, health cards with payment ability start with 8. This also identify the card type (credit/debit, spend limit ...)
- 9 digits for account number. That is only 1 000 000 000 per issuer IIN.
- 1 digit for verification hash.
In fact, with the no reuse rule, there was already cases of banks in EU running out of numbers in their assigned IIN range. Of course they got new ones and there is no risk of running out of the whole range, but it could happens if single use numbers become much used. The answer to that is tokenization as in apple pay.
I was aware of the restrictions on digit fields as mentioned by you and a few others, and I think I had heard of problems in the EU, as you mentioned. Which is why I raised the issue of running out of numbers. Just like with SSNs and Phone No's. If I'd actually thought all 16 digits were available, as SolipsismX assumed, then I wouldn't have made the statement.
I assumed no such thing and I'm not sure how my simple scenario could be taken as such or why my comment of all 7 billion people on earth would be ignored as if that's a reasonable scenario for today's card numbers. Clearly no one assumed I believed every person on Earth has a card number.
As I stated, the unique value can be increased as needed (and has increased over the decades) so there is no reason to think it can't increase yet again. They could even use the same number of characters but move to a hex value if they wanted to keep the count down. This is not an insurmountable issue in today's digital age.
... but cautioned that a first-quarter launch "depends on many variables."
Variables like:
1. Will we get any more VC capital after Apple Pay has dominated mobile payments?
2. Will anybody bother to sign up with us at all with our tiny marketing budget?
3. Oh dear god, I hope nobody hacks us.
4. How can we create trust with would-be users as a no-name startup with 1 weird trick?