New Credit Card On the Horizon...

The St. Petersburg Times carries an article today about a new credit card, called the Gratis Card.

It cuts merchant fees 75% by processing through the Internet and offers consumers a card that, it claims, is more secure because it will not be printed with the cardholder's name or account number or have data embedded on a magnetic stripe. Instead, it will have a bar code that does not identify a particular account, and the cardholder will enter a personal identification number to make the transaction. No signature will be required.

The new card joins others on the market, such as Tempo Payments, which issues branded debit cards; or National Payment Card LLC, which converts driver's licenses and loyalty cards into debit cards.