The bonus cards are a type of credit cards but the smart cards provide other benefits to credit cards. The smart cards lack screens and key boards but they can be regarded as specialized computers and the card could be looked upon as specialized computers that have the ability to process, store and safeguard thousands of bytes of data. When the cards are swiped in a reading machine the character display takes place on the screen. The data that is stored in the microchip of the card is accessed only through the chip operating system. There is a very high standard of data security and highly confidential data is stored in the system. The real record is not the card but the file kept in a computer and this store the information in the form of electronic bytes. The personal computing power will be put in our hands.
There must be interoperability in the system from the beginning, as the application requires a multiple card issuers. The card separates payment from management functions. There will be reduction of theft and frauds. The distributed processing in smart cards and small computer reduces the need for mainframe computer that are large and the expenditure of local and long distance circuits so that an online connection with a central computer is maintained. The cards are safe and compact. They have many uses that other cards having similar functions do not have. The card is actually an electronic record. The information that is contained in the microchip verifies the identity of the user and the facilities that the card provides stop the user.