The Amazon Echo is either the greatest thing ever or it's thedevil. The Amazon Echo, for those who don't know, is a device thatconnects you wirelessly to Amazon at all times. Among variousfunctions, it enables you to use audio commands to order products,using default payment and shipping settings. Translation: You canget whatever you want, whenever you want it, without entering asingle keystroke. You just say what you want out loud.

If Charles Foster Kane had the Amazon Echo, CitizenKane would have been a very short movie. “Rosebud,” he wouldwhisper, and Amazon operatives would spring into action. Sleddelivered. The End.

There is beauty and wonder in the effortlessness of thesetransactions.And Amazon Echo is only one example of this new styleof payment experience. New and established examples abound:

Amazon One-Click: Remember when you had toenter your payment information manually each time you made apurchase? Now everything is “on file.” See also: every other onlineretailer, everywhere.

Uber: Hitch a ride anytime and pay with asingle click.

Apple Pay: Wave your iPhone over the POSterminal at Whole Foods and all of your pricey groceries are paidfor as if by magic.

Venmo, Square Cash, RealPay: Now there is noexcuse for stiffing your friends. Squaring up is easy andimmediate.

[Name Your Favorite Retailer Here]: Lustingafter those boots you saw on your lunch hour? Search them up onyour mobile device and admire them all day long. Can't resist? Buythem literally any time – during a meeting, on the commute home,while your unsuspecting family sleeps.

Unsafe at Any Speed?

Herein lies the problem. As payments have become effortless, sohas spending. That may be cool in the moment, but what about thelong-term impact? A month of impulse purchases, chipping in forlunches, riding around town and unconsidered $8.99 cauliflower atWhole Foods adds up quickly. In fact, forget the monthly tab: Asingle day of effortless payments can wreak havoc on thebudget.

Are effortless payments unsafe? “From a security standpoint,many of these new payment methods are relatively secure,” MichelleThornton, Director of Product Development at CO-OP FinancialServices said. “For instance, Apple Pay – even in spite of securityconcerns that have come up since its introduction – hastokenization built into it. That means your payment information isarguably more secure when you use Apple Pay to do a transactionthan it is using your card.”

Instead, Thornton said, insecurity stems from human fallibility.“For starters, there's a major safety issue when anyone is tryingto do a mobile transaction while driving a car. That has nothing todo with payments security and everything to do with automotivesafety, but it's a real concern.”

Also of concern: Thanks to mobile technology, people areshopping and spending while multitasking. Focus on a budget?Evaluate the need for overpriced items? This may simply beimpossible given the distracted state of many mobile users.

“Beyond that, you could ask whether your money is safe fromimpulse spending,” Thornton continued. “The ease and ubiquity ofspending opportunities can be a hazard. And because payments aremore effortless, they may be harder to track mentally. Veryquickly, a number of small purchases can add up to a big budgetaryhit. Mobile budgeting tools that alert you when you are nearingyour budget threshold or even prevent you from going over yourbudget are likely to gain traction as ubiquitous spendingescalates.”

Who's Responsible Here?

If effortless spending is a problem, it's admittedly not one ofthe worst problems you can have. Yet, it raises issues for everyonewho participates in modern commerce. Is it more difficult to manageyour money now than it was five years ago? Probably so. Money ismore slippery now – and the rate at which it can slip through yourfingers makes it far more difficult to grasp.

As retailers make shopping – and therefore spending – easier andeasier, do they have a social responsibility to ensure that they'renot over-enabling their customers?

How do you as a credit union help members maintain theirfinancial wellbeing in this new environment?

• Are you providing the digital banking tools members need to beup-to-date on their finances?
• What advice do you offer to members who want to get a handle onmoney management? Just as the old advice to balance your checkingaccount monthly now seems alarmingly sparse, more recent advice tocheck your account balance periodically online is beginning tosound lax. Then again, how much is too much?
• Do your members understand the new rules of security?
• How many can answer this question: How easy is it to make anunintended purchase on the apps you use? If you thought buttdialing was bad, butt spending raises the issue to a whole newlevel.

Finally, is it time to consider new tools for a new age?

“Innovations such as a new controls and alerts app are nowempowering cardholders. Among other things, members now have theability to set spending limits by transaction or category,”Thornton said. ”As we move into a new kind of reality inpayments, it might indeed be time to revisit the tools we offer.People already have access to these new payments experiences. Itonly makes sense to offer them new ways to manage theirexperiences.”