Visa says it is offering banks a new smartphone-based tool that will cut down on the number of declined transactions when people use their credit cards abroad. The service, called Mobile Location Confirmation, is opt-in and uses phone location to verify the cardholder's presence at or near the point of sale. Visa's bank customers can add the service to their own mobile banking applications. Customers will need to permit the banking app to access their location. Visa says the service can act in real-time, matching the cardholder's geo location with the transaction location in less than a millisecond. Visa said when users' locations match the point of sale, banks can "more confidently approve the transaction." Visa believes this will help reduce pain points for banks and consumers alike. It can help save credit card issuers hundreds of millions of dollars in customer service fees and reduce cardholders frustration by cutting down on the number of declined purchases. Separately, Visa today announced a new way to conduct online and mobile transactions that nixes the need to use the 16-digit account number. Visa plans to pair its Visa Token Service with Visa Checkout, which will create unique transaction codes for mobile and online purchases rather than use the cardholder's account number. Visa believes removing the account number from transaction details will help it improve security. The tool is already being used in Apple Pay. Visa plans to expand its availability across the web and to other mobile apps.


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