One of my pet peeves is burdensome login procedures on smartphones. There is no rational reason to force cardholders to log in to see basic transaction data (unless they want to). We’ve covered it here, here, and here.

But this is the first time a major U.S. issuer has opened up mobile transactions. Barclaycard’s iPhone app update released today (v. 3.1.4267, see inset), contains the new Peek feature which:

….provides a quick-view of key
account details prior to login 
(selected cardholders only) 

It’s not discussed on the Barclaycard (U.S.) website, so I don’t have an action screenshot. And the “selected cardholders only” probably means its not available across all of its 35 different portfolios.

Bottom line: No-login transaction history is a good way to improve customer satisfaction, help move your card top of wallet, and possibly reduce costs from fewer password resets, fraud, and customer calls. I hope we see other major issuers follow suit soon.