UK Apple Pay Cards in the US

[mporcheron]

I setup and use Apple Pay in the UK with first direct Credit and Debit cards. I'm currently in the US visiting, and I'm curious if other people have been able to get Apple Pay to work? I've tried everywhere and the only place it worked was an Apple Store.

Many times, I get errors on the terminal such as "Card Reader Error", "Invalid Card" and so on. A few occasions were declined, I called up first direct and they said the error was "Invalid CVC", which they didn't understand. Have others had similar problems? Is it worth me talking with Apple about this?

 

[tmiw]

What other stores have you tried? I find that it works fine for me--but then again, I only have US issued cards.

 

[mporcheron]

So, I've tried all manner of stores, and all levels of transactions (e.g. at Liberty International, Levi, coffee shops).

It feels like there is something wrong with either my device, VISA, or by bank, who as per usual, have washed their hands of any responsibility with respect to Apple Pay.

Edit: …but I have absolutely no problem in the UK.

 

[NazgulRR]

Mine worked just fine. Halifax MasterCard credit card. Cvs, trader joes, wholefoods, coffee shops etc.

 

[neil_cm17]

I did remember reading somewhere that UK Apple pay VISA cards only support the contactless EMV protocol and most of the payment terminals in the U.S. only support the older MSD protocol.

 

[tmiw]

I did remember reading somewhere that UK Apple pay VISA cards only support the contactless EMV protocol and most of the payment terminals in the U.S. only support the older MSD protocol.

US Visa cards in Apple Pay are set up the same way as the UK cards though.

 

[IslesFan]

You're not trying to use it at a CVS are you?

 

[tmiw]

You're not trying to use it at a CVS are you?

Actually, Apple Pay supposedly works now at a very few number of CVS locations. I've yet to find one though.

 

[IslesFan]

The CVS by me has the contactless reader covered with a sign saying to use the chip reader for cards.

 

[neil_cm17]

US Visa cards in Apple Pay are set up the same way as the UK cards though.

But there are two different contactless standards EMV and MSD. The NFC hardware on the iPhone supports both methods but, because the MSD method isn't used for contactless in the UK, it hasn't been enabled by Visa for UK issued cards. We've had EMV terminals for getting on for 10 years now ever since the transition to chip and pin so if a terminal here supports contactless it will support contactless EMV where as that is not the case in the U.S.

 

[tmiw]

But there are two different contactless standards EMV and MSD. The NFC hardware on the iPhone supports both methods but, because the MSD method isn't used for contactless in the UK, it hasn't been enabled by Visa for UK issued cards. We've had EMV terminals for getting on for 10 years now ever since the transition to chip and pin so if a terminal here supports contactless it will support contactless EMV where as that is not the case in the U.S.

What I was saying is that US Visa cards in Apple Pay are EMV only in terms of what's sent out by the phone/watch. The new terminals are currently faking MSD using EMV data, which is how Apple Pay can still work. Doing "real" MSD isn't viable for Apple because Visa is mandating that support for real MSD go away from EMV-enabled terminals in about a month or so.

 

[mrcobra92]

What I was saying is that US Visa cards in Apple Pay are EMV only in terms of what's sent out by the phone/watch. The new terminals are currently faking MSD using EMV data, which is how Apple Pay can still work. Doing "real" MSD isn't viable for Apple because Visa is mandating that support for real MSD go away from EMV-enabled terminals in about a month or so.

How do the new terminals use fake MSD? I thought EMV was just the type of information sent and received.

 

[tmiw]

How do the new terminals use fake MSD? I thought EMV was just the type of information sent and received.

They just use the track 2 data that's transmitted and run it effectively like a swiped transaction.