Changes from Visa mean Americans will carry fewer physical credit, debit cards in their wallets

By KEN SWEET
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Visa has announced major changes to how its credit and debit cards will operate in the U.S. Features in the works will lead to Americans to carry fewer physical cards in their wallets and make the 16-digit credit or debit card number printed on every physical card increasingly irrelevant. The new features unveiled Wednesday will be some of the biggest changes to how payments operate since the U.S. rolled out chip-embedded cards several years ago. It also comes at a time when Americans have many more options to pay for a purchase that isn’t just credit or debit, including buy now, pay later companies, peer-to-peer payment options, paying directly with your bank, or digital payment systems, like Apple Pay.