WASHINGTON – The past 30 years have seen payments shift from cash and checks to debit cards and websites, and now to mobile apps like Apple Pay. But in a few years, says a report by NPR, you may not need anything you weren't born with, as some mobile technology and financial companies are betting that a quick imprint of your finger, scan of your eye or tap of an armband that links to your heartbeat will be easier and safer than using plastic.

Once used for doing high-level security clearances and criminal record checks, unique biometric identifiers — including fingerprints and iris patterns — are just starting to make inroads as payment, says NPR. Already, companies like Apple and Samsung have implemented fingerprint-scanning features in their latest smartphones, moving toward the ultimate goal of eliminating the need for credit cards and passwords.

Banks in the United Kingdom and Poland are preparing to release credit cards, online banking features and even ATMs where customers can approve payments or withdraw cash by scanning their finger and having their vein network read as a form of ID. In some cases, companies have also started rolling out this technology for customers.

The constant news drumbeat about the latest and biggest security breaches has raised serious discussion about what some financial analysts say is an imminent switch to biometric payments, according to NPR. But are biometric payments any safer? Privacy issues are a big concern for most consumers, who are wary of how the information may be used in the future. Companies in this sector say they're trying to address security concerns while also making this new kind of payment technology easy to use. That's why some industry players are keeping away from creating large, centralized banks of biometric information that would save your data, in favor of a more decentralized approach.