Costa Rica at the forefront of digital payments

Friday, August 6, 2021

Costa Rica at the forefront of digital payments

The pandemic in 2020 caused a greater demand from users for contactless payments, resulting in the rise of systems such as Tap on Phone and the use of QR codes to pay for services.

The pandemic caused greater user demand for contactless payments resulting in the rise of Tap on Phone systems and the use of QR codes, discover with us how to get the most out of this technology.

Costa Rica stands out for being the first country in Latin America to make use of the Tap on Phone system, implemented through the financial entity Promérica and MasterCard for businesses in the country.

Replacing the traditional dataphone with a Smartphone, which works with contactless cards through wireless communication technology (NFC) .‍

The NFC incorporated in mid-range and high-end Android cell phones makes wireless communication possible, as well as the exchange of data between two devices that are at a distance of less than 20 cm.

However, the NFC not only works with cards with contactless technology, but other devices such as rings, bracelets or wallet applications.

Consequently, businesses will be able to save the cost of having a dataphone, especially in those cases where this type of transaction is scarce and acquiring them is not very profitable.

Nowadays, each payment made by card in the dataphones implies the collection of 4.25% commission, although recently the Central Bank of Costa Rica established that the maximum rate will be 2.50%.

In addition, the platform is easy to use, the merchant will only have to type the amount of the purchase and then the client brings his card to the cell phone to finalize the corresponding payment, the invoice will be attached by mail.

Likewise, from the application you can make reversals of amounts, review the history of sales made, analysis of their behavior, enter your products and select them from the same App.

"Touch" is the name of the application that uses the Tap on Phone system, which costs between $ 2 and $ 5 per month, is backed by Mastercard with all the security requirements it requires to function with the same peace of mind as a dataphone.

This application aims to reduce the informal economy by facilitating a simple and profitable solution for accepting contactless payments with just a cell phone.

Antit, with its intention to stay at the forefront of the latest technology, is currently working on a solution for Tap on Phone.

However, in our country, Tap on Phone is not the only payment system that will increasingly discard the use of dataphones in shops.

QR codes

Recently, SQR PAGOS was launched on the market, which allows SINPE Móvil affiliate users to accept or send money transfers using QR codes.

From this application the user will only need to scan the QR of the business and will immediately direct it to their account to make their payment by mobile SINPE, eliminating the error factor in the number of accounts or telephone.

This system will facilitate the sharing of your QR code for payments through social networks, online services, small businesses, among others, saving the payment of commissions since this will be made the same as an ordinary transfer.

Subsequently, the business or person will receive confirmation from their bank of the effectiveness of said transfer. The application is already available in the Play Store, it only requires that the client and the business have Sinpe Móvil.








Melissa López
August 6, 2021
Banking