The standard for using a credit card at a store has long been based on the swiping process to read the information from it. Wireless technologies—specifically RFID or radio-frequency identification—promise to be the disruptive technologies that set the new standard for no-swipe credit card use.

ExxonMobil, with its Speedpass RFID system embedded in a key chain, was the first to exploit no-swipe credit cards, beginning as early as 1997. Speedpass cards (or key chains), however, are good only at Exxon-Mobil gas stations.

RFID is a seemingly simple technology. An RFID-enabled computer chip is embedded into the credit card. The computer chip contains all the information normally found in the magnetic stripe of today’s credit cards. When the card comes within close proximity to a wireless reader (6 to 12 inches), the computer chip is literally jolted to life by the electromagnetic waves the reader emits. So, you don’t have to swipe an RFID credit card; instead, you just wave it at the reader.

MasterCard, American Express, and Visa USA have all transformed their own credit cards to make them capable of using RFID technology. Those companies have been testing their new systems for the past couple of years and plan full-scale rollouts. MasterCard has even explored combining its credit card with a Nokia phone. (Most people carry cell phones today.) In this case, your cell phone would contain the RFID computer chip representing your credit card. So, you wouldn’t even have to carry your credit card, as long as you had your cell phone in hand.

RFID-based credit cards offer greater customer convenience and should create additional efficiencies as you pay using your credit card. According to Betsy Foran-Owens, a MasterCard vice president, “In some instances it’s faster than cash. You’re eliminating the fumble factor.”