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Certain card types through some banks (and all corporate cards) are not yet supported on Apple Pay

Apple-Pay-support-01

Update: Apple has removed support for prepaid cards from American Express. It also added a column for corporate cards, hinting that support for those cards might be on the way.

With Apple’s launch of its new Apple Pay payments service in the US yesterday, it has now published a support document detailing supported card types from each of its initial banking partners. We already knew that MasterCard, Visa, and American Express cards would be supported initially through a growing list of banking partners, but the support document shows certain types of cards, like business and corporate cards, aren’t yet supported through some banks.

While Apple said that it has 500 banks signed up for the service, it currently only lists American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi, J.P Morgan, Merrill Lynch, U.S. Trust, and Wells Fargo. Of the currently supported banks, only American Express and Capital One are listed as supporting small business credit cards, for example. Capital One and J.P. Morgan, on the other hand, don’t support Co-branded cards (Airline, hotel, retail, rewards), while the other banks do.

Other limitations are outlined in Apple’s support doc (pictured above) and the company confirms that “Corporate cards can’t be used with Apple Pay.” Some of the other banks don’t support prepaid cards, small business debit cards or personal debit cards. 

You can expect Apple to add many more banks to the list in the coming weeks as Visa and MasterCard have already confirmed support for a long list of banks. Visa announced support for Barclaycard, First National Bank of Omaha, M&T Bank, PNC, Navy Federal Credit Union, Regions Bank, USAA, and U.S. Bank in the coming weeks, and MasterCard provided an even longer list of banks for the “coming months”: Cardholders with a MasterCard consumer credit or debit card from Barclaycard, USAA, PNC, Navy Federal Credit Union, US Bank, Fifth Third, First Hawaiian, First National Bank of Omaha, First Niagara, Key Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, SSFCU, SunTrust and Synchrony Financial

Earlier today we noted that readers reported using the service successfully abroad through supported NFC terminals using US-based cards, but Apple and the credit card companies aren’t yet talking about international availability.

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Comments

  1. Chris Sanders - 9 years ago

    So basically it doesn’t work as advertised. Got it! Way to go Apple! I thought it was supported through the MC and VISA and AMX logos on the card.

    • My AMEX and Citi Card work just fine.

    • chrisl84 - 9 years ago

      What was advertised that doesnt work according to this chart? Did Apple say Corporate or CoBranded cards would work with Apple Pay? Hmmmm, no

      • Jason R. Olsen - 9 years ago

        Not all VISA, MC, and AMX cards work! It depends on your bank. My Visa card, issued through my personal bank, does not work. It was quite disappointing.

        By the way, I contacted my bank and they said they are working on supporting Apple Pay, but they can’t give a date when it will be working. :-(

    • Torrey Huerta - 9 years ago

      Perhaps your browser isn’t displaying the chart above. Looks like all personal credit cards and most personal debit cards are supported. Others will follow suit, I’m sure.

    • daving313 - 9 years ago

      I am sure over the next week in the US, there will be more Apple Pay NFC transactions than all of Google Wallet NFC transactions for the last two years.

    • 1sugomac - 9 years ago

      ApplePay is actually more technically involved than putting a logo on a card.
      It works as advertised and if it doesn’t, the fault lies with your bank not with Apple.

    • Apple never said it would work with ALL Visa, MC, or AMEX cards. In the very first mention of Apple Pay, they simply said the technology was supported by all three companies, and then immediately went on to list BANKS that support it. Visa, MC, Amex aren’t banks, they are simply card payment processing companies. There’s a difference between a card processing company (which handles the transaction) and the bank (which actually holds the money).

  2. Chris Sanders - 9 years ago

    I have a feeling people are going to be changing banks like they return iPhones/iPads right after the initial launch for the item that really suits their needs. LMAO!

  3. My USSA cards aren’t active yet.

    • Brian Gaynor - 9 years ago

      USAA has said that they will be up and running in a couple of weeks (early November). That’s the last piece of the puzzle for me, Wells Fargo and Amex were a go on day one.

  4. Alex Kaess - 9 years ago

    The Co-Branded Cards check mark for Chase is not accurate… the Amazon Rewards Visa is issued through Chase and is not supported! There is a huge user base for this rewards card, and there are several complaint threads on Amazon’s support page and reddit.

    • Andrew Messenger - 9 years ago

      I can confirm this as well. Chase Amazon Rewards Visa wouldn’t work for me.

      • I contacted Chase last night and all I was told was when available I would be notified. I was hoping for more clarification. :(

    • Correct. No card has more use by the tech set than the Amazon Visa, myself included. It’s ridic.

    • 1sugomac - 9 years ago

      Ditto. Was the first card I tried and the one I wanted to use the most.

    • iSRS - 9 years ago

      Could this be an issue not with Chase, but with Amazon? The reason I ask is I have a Disney branded Visa through Chase. Not only did it easily get added (this one without me using the camera, as it is my iTunes credit card) but it shows up as the actual card design I have, Sorcerer Mickey. Would not be surprised it Amazon said they did not want their cards supporting it.

      As far as the customized look (Mickey)? It is not across all banks. My Citi Simplicity card shows the same image as the card, but my BofA Red Sox card does not show the branding. This actually leads me to believe that Chase is all in, so the only thing I can think of is it is based on Amazon not wanting to support it, knowing people would blame (in order) 1. Apple 2. Chase with no #3…

      • 1sugomac - 9 years ago

        Agreed. I also suspect that Amazon is working on it’s own competing payment strategy and will likely hold out as long as they can.

    • iSRS - 9 years ago

      from Chase…. https://www.chasedigitalpayments.com

      Use the following Chase Visa® Cards for faster purchases.
      AARP® Credit Card from Chase
      BP Visa® With Pump Rewards
      British Airways Visa Signature® Card
      Chase Debit Card
      Chase Freedom® Card
      Chase Liquid®
      Chase Sapphire® Card
      Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
      Chase Slate®
      Disney Premier Visa® Card
      Disney Rewards® Visa® Card
      Disney Visa® Debit Card
      The Hyatt Credit Card
      Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card
      MK® Rewards Visa® Card
      MK® Visa® Card
      North Carolina State University Visa Card
      Quicken Rewards Visa® Credit Card
      The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card
      Southwest Airlines® Rapid Rewards® Plus Card
      Southwest Airlines® Rapid Rewards® Premier Card
      United MileagePlus® Club Card
      United MileagePlus® Explorer Card
      University of Kentucky Visa Card

      What footnote #1 above states…
      Some cards might not be supported in Apple Pay. Contact your bank for more information.

      • degraevesofie - 9 years ago

        Unfortunately, even the United MileagePlus Explorer Card only works in its VISA incarnation; not in its MasterCard variant.

  5. Alan Aurmont - 9 years ago

    Lack of The Bancorp Bank support is a deal-breaker. That means I can’t use cards like Simple, Google Wallet and PayPal.

  6. P (@Ghostjose1) - 9 years ago

    I tried loading my HSBC card and was unsuccessful

  7. boymeetsphone - 9 years ago

    Despite the fact the list says AMEX prepaid cards are supported they are not. I have Serve and the orignal American Express Prepaid and neither work.

  8. Jamie  (@Jamie1973) - 9 years ago

    No Discover yet? :-(

  9. Chase is full of it, neither of my Chase “co-branded” rewards cards are supported (Amazon and Southwest).

  10. uncleeliot - 9 years ago

    My United branded Chase card is supported — I suppose not al co-branded cards are equal

  11. That’s weird, I added my Chase small business card yesterday just fine.

  12. boymeetsphone - 9 years ago

    Despite the fact the support page says American Express prepaid cards are accepted none of them work. I tried with a Serve card and the older America Express Prepaid.

  13. Lars - 9 years ago

    I don’t get why retailers have to “update” their NFC terminal? Every NFC terminal should work with Apple pay automatically…
    Besides, I don’t unterstand why my bank AND Mastercard or VISA have to support it?

    • Brian Gaynor - 9 years ago

      Your bank has to support for the tokenization aspect to work. With tokenization what Apple and the merchant see is very limited (a good thing) and limit the ability of thieves to get a hold of your info.

  14. earreola1001 - 9 years ago

    Will it even support UnionBank. That’s what I use.

  15. klepp0906 - 9 years ago

    Love it: my bank debit card and my PayPal card both do not work. I’d rather be charged the measly .15% stingy greedy bastards. Instead I upgrade my software for a feature I can’t even use at the cost of losing my ability to use emulators.

    Rock on Apple, rock on!

  16. randyrrobbins - 9 years ago

    I hope they have support for my Merrill Edge CMA Visa Plus Debit Card

  17. slopes0213 - 9 years ago

    Only 1 of my three cards were supported and that was a Capital One card. Strangely my Barclay Visa I got through Apple isn’t supported yet! Figured that one would be a no brainer..

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.