If you have a smartphone, you probably have a digital wallet waiting to be downloaded or discovered among your existing apps. It’s an electronic ticket to a world of financial convenience, security and efficiency like you may have never experienced before.

This payment method has been growing over the past few years, as numerous tech companies have introduced them to the marketplace, with names such as Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay, Microsoft Wallet and many others. They represent a shift in paying for goods and services away from traditional cards and towards a more mobile form of payment. Most of these digital wallets work with the help of a technology known as Near Field Communication or NFC, and have also begun to integrate with check-out in mobile apps and e-commerce websites.

Here are 10 reasons to begin using a digital wallet:

1. Convenience

In mere seconds, you can complete a transaction using a digital wallet with a tap or wave of the smartphone at the checkout terminal.

2. Efficiency

No more digging in your purse or wallet for the right card. Plus, as more consumers adopt this technology, checkout lines could become shorter due to the speedy nature of the transactions.

3. No More George Costanza Wallet

The lovable character on TV’s Seinfeld had so many items in his wallet that one day he could not fold it shut. When he tried to force it shut, it exploded into the winds, scattering its contents across New York City. You won’t have to worry about over-stuffing a digital wallet.

4. Less Lugging Items Around

If you’re like most people, your phone is always with you. If you can store your payment cards in a digital wallet, you can pay at accepting stores without needing to carry your physical wallet with you — meaning one less item to carry.

5. Organization

A digital wallet can help you organize everything from credit cards, membership cards, customer loyalty cards and more.

6. Enhanced Security

Unlike your regular wallet, your phone has controls available — should you turn them on — that will allow only you to get in. If someone finds your wallet, your cards are all right there. But if someone finds your phone, they can’t just physically reach into it and pull out a credit card. Plus, when the payment is made in-store or online, what is exchanged instead of your card number is a unique transaction identifier or token — so the stores where you shop with a digital wallet do not have to store your account information — which can help enhance the security of your data.

7. No More Pesky Forms

Have you ever quit an online transaction because the forms you were filling out were too long and onerous? Digital wallets enable you to skip some of this form-filling.

8. Discounts and Bonuses

You’ll often find promotions and point rewards systems in your digital wallet, and you can access the information at-a-glance.

9. Costs

Digital wallets typically offer all of this convenience for free. Some transactions, however, could come with a flat fee, such as reloading a prepaid card within the wallet from a different source, like a credit card. But, for most transactions, the convenience and simplicity of a digital wallet will not cost anything additional.

Source: https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/resources/10-reasons-to-use-a-digital-wallet