These days it can be difficult to find a wallet that has only one credit card in it – with the vast majority of people having numerous cards with numerous banks/building societies so that they can attempt to keep on top of the latest offers and rewards. Yet even with the most valiant of attempts, it can be difficult to figure out which card will offer the best value on the purchase to be made, but a company called Wallaby Financial are on a mission to change that.
Matthew Goldman, founder and CEO of the company, spent a number of years working as a product manager at Green Dot, a prepaid debit card company. He claims that the idea has been permeating for a long time, after being both inspired and irritated at a gas station many years ago – when he was informed that he could have gotten 5% cash back if he would have used a credit card which he had left at home.
Goldman doesn’t believe that the consumer should have to consider which card is best suited to use for any transaction, so he has created the Wallaby Card.
So how does it work? Basically, you provide Wallaby with information about your numerous credit cards, and the company then sends you a new card that you use to replace your old ones. When you swipe the Wallaby card to pay any product, the service uses the appropriate algorithms and chooses the best deal to complete the purchase. Its decision-making takes into account which card will get you the most rewards for that particular transaction and your personal preferences.
Goldman is hoping that users will find its familiarity more appealing than other emerging payment technologies such as Near Field Communication (Google Wallet) and the ever-strong force of Paypal. NFC is a form of contactless payment – for example, you would use your phone to pay for something. With Paypal, you can make in-store purchases using your phone and a PIN.
“Right now, plastic works,” he says. “People know how to swipe their credit cards.”
Only time will tell if Goldman’s predictions ring true.
Real Time Cities 