How you can use an e-wallet on a night out in LondonBy Angelica Malin
You might ask yourself ‘what is an e-wallet?’ or ‘why would I want to use one of them?’. If you have a smartphone the chances are that you already have one whether you have set it up or not is more of the question. Depending on your device it might be known to you as Apple Pay or Google Pay but there are other apps available too. PayPal was one of the earliest forms of e-wallet. For convenience and security, an e-wallet is a sensible thing to use when you are out and about and, quite frankly, one less thing to lose.
An e-wallet is a software-based payment system that stores payment details that can be used for transactions either online or face to face using a smartphone. It requires a password or code (this could be in the form of facial recognition or touch technology depending on the make and model of your phone). E-wallets can also be used to save and remember passwords. You almost certainly have an e-wallet on your computer too, but we don’t think you’ll be carrying one of those around with you on a night out. The key thing is that the software needs to be linked to your bank account and payment cards. Essentially it is your wallet on your phone.
Different types of e-wallet apps allow you to use them in different ways. Some allow you to add cash to a specific e-card. This means that if using this kind of app, you can set yourself a budget and limit what you are spending before you go out. So essentially a prepaid card.
An e-wallet like PayPal or Apple Pay allows you to have several different cards in them, both credit and debit. PayPal is particularly popular with traders who are not set up to take card payments themselves, but they can be paid by the purchasers through their PayPal account. It was the original payment partner for eBay and is a well-recognised and trusted brand.
The use of contactless payments has become increasingly the norm, particularly during the pandemic with some merchants only taking contactless payments. Contactless payments on a physical card have a financial limit to protect the card holder if their card is stolen or lost. This limit does not apply when using Apple Pay or Google Pay because the transaction is confirmed using either your fingerprint or your facial ID. During the Pandemic when people have been wearing masks the technology has also had to allow for people to input their numeric passcode if they are wearing a mask.
Card payments took over from cash for the first time in the UK in 2017 and by November 2020 nearly a third of the UK adult population had registered to use mobile payments. Contactless payments with cards are used widely across all age ranges. E-wallets have a distinctively younger demographic. In 2020 50% of 16 – 34-year-olds had registered for mobile payments while only 11% of over 65’s was using them.
E-wallet transactions are most likely to be used in supermarkets; they can be used anywhere that cash would have been used in the past and where debit or credit cards are currently used.
While your phone is practical for staying in touch and keeping your payments safe, we all like to use our phones for fun, be that social media, gaming, or music. Online Casinos offer all the fun and thrill of bricks and mortar one but allow you a different perspective or additional fun on a night out. You can play in the taxi or bus on the way to meet with friends. To keep you safe and your money secure you can try out PayPal online casinos. As well as affording top-level security PayPal casinos are one of the few online casino real money payment methods that allow both deposits and withdrawals, so you always have access to your stakes and winnings.
If you are getting yourself ready for a night out in London, you only need to take your fully charged phone with you if you have your e-wallet set up with your payment cards. Whatever event you are going to, you are ready for a great night out. Pay for drinks at the bar, theatre tickets, entry to a casino or nightclub using ApplePay or GooglePay. You only need to keep one thing safe – no more worrying about lost wallets or handbags. Your phone is always with you, and you can pay for everything using it. You’ll be able to use it to pay for the bus or taxi home at the end of a fun night out. Just hold it up to the contactless reader and the money will be deducted from your account. You’ll also get a notification of what money has been spent so you can see what you are spending as you go along. While it was always possible to see what cash in your wallet was being spent, card payments have always been harder to keep up to speed with. Not so when you use e-wallet software as you will be notified each time you make a transaction.
Using your smartphone is the smart way to ensure a great night out.
