Tired of carrying a wallet, dad has bank chip implanted in hand

SALT LAKE CITY — A British father is the first in the nation to be implanted with a a safety-pin-sized bank chip. Arnie Szoke, 40, paid £350 ($394) to have the new technology inserted into his hand in Germany. Is this the future for people who don’t want to carry a wallet or purse?

It has been reported that in Sweden, 4,000 people have body chips linked to their bank accounts, according to Daily Mail.

KSL NewsRadio’s Dave & Dujanovic debate the merits and liabilities of financial implantation. 

Is bank chip in body out of hand?

“I love technology. I have all of the technology, and I want more of it,” Dave said. “This is where I draw the line, where you are inserting a bank chip under my skin — like you’re slicing open my skin and you’re stuffing one in and then sewing it up.”

“Just think of the convenience,” Debbie Dujanovic replied. “So, it allows him to just walk up to a device you know, like you do when you’re checking out at a Target or Walmart or whatever, and you put your hand up against the machine. It’s contactless so you don’t have to actually, like, dig around in the bottom of your purse for your last bank card.”

Dave pointed out the technology is in your smartphone, not in your hand.

“You carry your phone with you at all times in all places. Everyone does. That’s the microchip. The microchip is in your phone. Just use your phone. Why does it got to be stuffed into your body?” he asked.

“Says the man who continually loses his wallet,” Dujanovic shot back. Yes, she acknowledged, you can use Apple Pay to purchase via your cellphone, but she said she has hit snags with that method in the past.

“You have to be at a store that accepts Apple Pay, and then sometimes I’ve tried to use Apple Pay, and it says ‘Oh, you need the security code off of your American Express. I gotta go digging around for my American Express. This is the way the world is going.”

What’s the big deal? Fido and Fluffy are chipped.

“You microchip your pet,” Dujanovic said. “So, if an earthquake happens, let’s say, and they get out from under the fence. They freak out and they run around the neighborhood. If they’re picked up by animal services, they can just — I don’t know — stick something up to the dog or cat’s neck and they can know, it’s Dave Noriega’s cat Fluffy.”

“You’re not a cat, Deb,” Dave replied.

Dujanovic responded by saying everyone agrees microchipping a pet is a good idea.

“You can’t go up to Fluffy and say, ‘Hey, what’s your name? Where do you live? What’s your mom’s name?'” Dave said.

Dujanovic said she would have no problem being microchipped with her bank card because she said it’s the direction of the future — but don’t stop there.

“In fact, I’d also like to be microchipped with my driver’s license on it, with my Social Security number on it, with my eye conditions on it, my meds on it,” she said.

Is this indeed the future?

Last weekend, Dujanovic said, she could not find her American Express card and panicked.

“I ran around the house. I ran up to my car. I almost called one of the stores that I had to stop at,” she said, “but I forgot I didn’t use my American Express card at those stores. I just needed it for this online purchase. Turned out I found it at the bottom of my purse.”

With an implanted bank chip, she said, all that panic would be gone.

“It puts a whole ‘nother definition into ‘Don’t leave home without it,'” Dave said.

Read all the details:

• ‘Pure stupidity!’ Man who’s had his bank card chip implanted in his HAND so that he doesn’t have to carry a wallet leaves This Morning viewers unimpressed
• The microchip implants that let you pay with your hand

Read more:

• America’s dependence on credit cards is growing. The Fed’s rate hike will make it more painful
• How to say no to loved ones or friends asking for money