 TITLE: What Is Contactless Pay? CONTENT: How Does Contactless Payment Work?\n----------------------------------\nWe're used to swiping our cards or sticking them in a chip reader at the checkout counter, but both payment methods require touching a machine, or in some cases, giving your card to a cashier to insert or swipe it for you.\nContactless payment allows you to bypass that and instead simply hover or tap your card or phone on a reader. The payment is processed quickly via wireless communication and the rest of the transaction proceeds as usual.\nContactless payments are often faster and more convenient for customers and retailers alike, but purchases made in the U.S. are still by and large done \"the old way.\" While U.S. credit card issuers haven't issued as many contactless cards, merchants have been reluctant to adopt the new technology and cardholders may be unsure how to use it.\nBut it's getting there and is expected to grow as more card issuers have recently begun issuing contactless payment cards and wearable technology that allows contactless payments becomes more widely used. A big step forward for the technology's adoption happened recently when New York City rolled out contactless pay for its public transportation system. END