3 On Your Side: Card-Less ATM Transactions
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- How would you like to get cash from an ATM without the hassle of pulling out your bank card and having to punch in a PIN number? Several companies are releasing apps that allow you to get money from an ATM using your smart phone. 3 On Your Side Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan has the details.
It spits out cash like any other ATM. But Bart Johnson didn't swipe a card, or enter a PIN. He got this cash courtesy of his smartphone. Chicago's Wintrust Bank is one of the banks offering this feature.
As they demonstrated in a YouTube video you can order your withdrawal in advance from the convenience of your office or home. When you get to the ATM you push the card-less cash option, and scan the QR code with your phone. Johnson says, "I like the app. If I don't have my wallet or debit card on me but I do have my phone which I always have go right to the ATM, put it up to ATM and get my money."
Phones eliminate the security threat of skimming - where thieves attach a device to an ATM that can read and steal card numbers. But there are still some concerns. Louis McHugh of the Illinois Institute of Technology says, "What if you lose that phone? If somebody wants in the phone bad enough, it just takes time." McHugh also says the Wintrust app stores banking information in the "cloud", adding, "As we've see with some of the recent security breaches how secure is the "cloud" really?"
Wintrust says even if hackers steal your numbers from the cloud, they can't get cash without your phone. Industrywide, 69 percent of financial institutions say they're planning to implement some type of mobile-ATM integration in the next few years.
