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Cards are slowly moving towards not having printed numbers at all, and having the numbers only available via the issuer's app or website. This allows for rotating numbers.



Rotating numbers are still extremely viable with fixed card numbers - it's possible to issue a set of semi-permenant printed numbers and also offer a tool that can issue additional digits for untrustworthy retailers or strange one-off payments. The removal of digits from the card itself is a cost being levied on the customer and it provides no real benefit.


Removal of digits reduces reissuances which are annoying for both issuer and customer.


Cards are moving towards no card at all i.e. virtual cards. USA is very slow in adopting new payment technology compared to the rest of the world. I live in South Africa and tap to pay is so much of a thing that you do not have to worry if you leave your card at home as you can tap at like 80% of the merchants, and if you can't they will have a fall back like QR code etc, NFC enabled cards have been around for years and all the merchants are really quick in adopting them.


Care to share some examples? I’ve never seen this in the US


In the UK my current debit card for my good bank is a flat black rectangle with the Mastercard Logo (overlapping circles) the name of the bank, the chip connector, and an arrow (for those with reasonable vision to determine correct orientation if they've never seen a chip before). From a Tactile point of view it has an indentation (orientation again) and a single Braille-like bump signifying "This is your debit card" (other cards may have more bumps).

On the back though it has a lot of details about the account, who I am, validity and so on, so all the same data is on the card, just not on the front and not embossed.

Current era bank cards aren't bright enough to change their numbers though, many of them are scarcely "smarter" than they were when they were completely passive, just barely enough going on to make it trickier to counterfeit them, not really any attempt to actually make that truly impossible for the majority of banks and customers. From the bank's point of view if they spend $5 per card to avoid $3 per card of fraud, they wasted $2 per card, and if half that fraud lands on the customer (because Mrs Smith didn't notice or the bank successfully prevented her claiming her money back and blamed her for the loss instead) they wasted $3.50.


Apple card is the only one I'm aware of


The Apple credit card only shows the number if you reveal it in Apple Wallet app. Their card, technically run by Goldman Sachs, is all white with no numbers. Not sire how to verify but I've heard if you use it with Apple Pay I think it doesn't use that number, but a rotating one.


It can use a rotating number, I think, but when I tap my watch, any receipt with shows me the last four digits still shows me the same last four digits. Apple rotates the CVV, but not the card number so much.


I thought the whole point of the rotation was to make it hard to track credit card purchases across stores etc. Just rotating the CVV is a nice security feature but definitely not that.


Are you doing it with the Apple Card or just Apple Pay?


Good point! Almost always Apple Pay, not often the physical card.


In Italy, debit cards have numbers that are not embossed (however they are slightly "engraved" i.e. the number forms a slight depression on the card - basically the opposite of embossing). IIRC I've seen the same in other EU countries. I now live in Australia and in my experience, here all cards are embossed, no matter if they are credit or debit cards.


Most new cards that I have seen in Australia doesn't have embossing, they have flat surface. The number is simply printed on the back. Many banks allow you to lock the card using the App as well.


In the US, I have multiple Chase credit cards with no raised numbers. The number is printed in flat ink on the back of the card.

The Apple card doesn't display the number anywhere on the card at all.




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