Apple Pay picks up 24 more US banks & credit unions plus British Airways bookings

Apple on Tuesday added another 24 banks and credit unions to the list supporting Apple Pay in the U.S., filling in an increasingly small set of coverage gaps. British Airways, meanwhile, introduced limited support for the the platform in its iOS app.

As has become standard, the expanded U.S. compatibility concentrates on regional institutions, some operating in a single city. Most national banks were onboard by early 2015, not long after Apple Pay's official debut in Oct. 2014.

The full list of additions includes:

BankLiberty
CinFed Credit Union
Cumberland County Federal Credit Union
Denmark State Bank
Family Security Credit Union
Franklin Savings Bank
Gates Chili Federal Credit Union
Great River Federal Credit Union
Greenfield Banking Company
Heritage Community Credit Union
Labette Bank
Lake Trust Credit Union
Michigan Educational Credit Union
Natco Credit Union
Neches Federal Credit Union
Old Point National Bank
Peach State Bank & Trust
Pioneer Bank (incl. New Mexico and New York)
River City Bank
Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution
SELCO Community Credit Union
Shell Federal Credit Union
Shrewsbury Federal Credit Union
The Mission Bank

The British Airways iPhone app now offers Apple Pay for booking flights. At the moment, however, this is limited to flyers in the U.K., who must also pay with Visa or MasterCard. More card types will be supported in the future, the airline said.

The main issue in growing Apple Pay has been less bank support (Australia notwithstanding) than merchants. A number of apps, websites, and retailers do support the platform, but many still don't — particularly in the U.S., where retailers have been slow to upgrade point-of-sale terminals with the NFC technology required for in-person transactions.

8 Comments

coolfactor 2328 comments · 20 Years

About 8 years ago

It's amazing how many different banks and credit unions exist in the US.

AppleBum 37 comments · 8 Years

...and mine still doesn't support Apple Pay.

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

I’m tired of hearing which banks support Apple Pay. My bank supported it almost from the beginning but to this day the merchants I can actually use Apple Pay with has not changed much.

Walgreens - yes
Walmart - no
CVS - no
Macy’s - yes
McDonald’s - yes
Home Depot - no
Most Mom&Pop stores - NO
Most gasoline service stations - NO

It is quite clear that NFC systems (Apple Pay, Google Wallet, etc.) are not catching on with merchants or the public. Why I don’t know. Cost? Perception? Fear? Resistance to change?

supadav03 503 comments · 10 Years

lkrupp said:

I’m tired of hearing which banks support Apple Pay. My bank supported it almost from the beginning but to this day the merchants I can actually use Apple Pay with has not changed much.

Walgreens - yes
Walmart - no
CVS - no
Macy’s - yes
McDonald’s - yes
Home Depot - no
Most Mom&Pop stores - NO
Most gasoline service stations - NO

It is quite clear that NFC systems (Apple Pay, Google Wallet, etc.) are not catching on with merchants or the public. Why I don’t know. Cost? Perception? Fear? Resistance to change?

I hear you on this. Definitely been slow going here. Oct of last year was suppose to cause a boom in places upgrading/updating to NFC terminals but it never came to fruition. Even some that did upgrade, ended up adding chip readers and still bypassing adding/activating NFC.

I will say there has been some progress though. Chevron & Exxon/Mobile take Apple Pay. One inside and the othe through the SpeedPass app. Home Depot's around me do have NFC enabled (So FLA) and I have been suprised at the number of smaller stores accepting it. Several have added support in last few months, mostly through the new ApplePay readers sold by Square. Seen it at a local gourmet popcorn shop, La Granja, local coffee shop, dinner, food trucks, and bounce house/indoor playground place.

Main holdouts I'm waiting on are Target & Publix. I couldn't care less if Walmart ever got it. I try to avoid that place like the plague.