It seems 2020 is going to finally be the year of contactless credit cards. With the arrival of my new Chase Freedom card, nearly every card in my wallet is now contactless. That’s a great thing too because I never enjoyed using chip credit cards.
The whole concept of inserting a card for far too long while it waited to process was always painful. Then there was the awkward dance of when to insert the card. Too early and the transaction wouldn’t process. Too late and you’d miss the transaction window and have to start over. Overall, chip credit cards were a terrible idea that should have never happened.
Fortunately, as I mentioned above, it seems card issuers are now moving toward contactless credit cards. Specifically it seems now that nearly every credit card offered from Chase now features contactless technology. That of course includes the extremely popular Chase Freedom card.
Requesting The New Chase Freedom Contactless Credit Card
Chase makes requesting a new credit card incredibly easy. Online account functionality is definitely an area where Chase excels. To request a new Chase credit card you must first log-in to your Chase credit card account. Once logged in, select the credit card account for which you’d like to request a new card. Then, on the right hand side of the page, click on the “things you can do” drop down. From that menu you can click on the “replace a lost or damaged card.”
After clicking this option, Chase will redirect you to the “replace a card” webpage. On this page you can change your card account and select a reason for card replacement. One of the options available should be “my card needs to be reissued” and in that option is text which lets you know to use this option if you need a tap-to-pay card.
After selecting this option you should receive a confirmation that your card will be reissued. If you know where your card is, be sure to use this option as your card number will remain the same. This is important if you have any reoccurring charges hitting your card account. If your card is lost or stolen, select the lost or stolen option to allow Chase to send you a new card with a new account number.
Receiving My Chase Freedom Contactless Credit Card
After requesting a new credit card my new Chase Freedom contactless card arrived just a few days later. As with most replacement credit cards, my new Chase Freedom card arrived in a plain white envelope. Inside the envelope was a single piece of paper with my new credit card affixed to the front of the page.
This page also included some important account information such as the account number, credit limit, and cash advance limit associated with the card. This page also provided a very brief overview of some of the Chase Freedom card’s benefits.
Overall, the new contactless Chase Freedom card looks very similar to the standard version. However, it seems Chase has made some minor adjustments to the overall design of the Chase Freedom card.
Specifically, when comparing the new card to the older version, you can see that Chase enlarged the Chase Freedom branding on the front of the card. Also, it’s hard to tell in the below photo, but Chase has made a minor adjustment to the wave design on the front of the card.
The new Chase Freedom card of course includes the contactless card logo prominently on the front of the card. Lastly, one thing I appreciate, is that Chase retained the lime green banding found on the outside edges of the card. The reason I appreciate this design choice is because it makes the card easy to identify when using a card case where only the side of the card is visible. This is a subtle design choice that I wish more card issuers incorporated in their card designs.
Final Thoughts
Overall I’m excited to see card issuers offer contactless credit cards. I love the contactless technology and find it much quicker and easier to use than the embedded chip. That being said, one thing to be wary of with contactless cards is that a contactless reader will read all of your cards when you put your wallet down. So, if you now carry more than one contactless card, you will have to remove the card you wish to use. This could be a bit annoying for anyone who’s become accustomed to simply plopping their wallet down on a card reader.
Other than that, contactless cards are fantastic and I’m excited to see yet another contactless credit card offered from Chase. Hopefully before the end of 2020 contactless credit cards will become the new normal. As that happens I do wonder if credit card designs will change. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the credit card form factor change in the next decade. However, that’s a post for another day.
