Apple Pay gets support for prepaid cards with Boon - only in the UK

If you're an iPhone owner in the UK and your bank has yet to climb aboard the Apple Pay train — or you don't have a compatible credit or debit card — you now have a new prepaid option thanks to the UK launch of Wirecard's Boon mobile payment app with Apple Pay.

Boon is a digital wallet service that breaks into brick-and-mortar by giving its users an NFC-compatible virtual MasterCard. Android-only until today, Boon cards can now be added to Apple Wallet and used with Apple's secure mobile payments system.

After topping up their Boon account — which can be done via a credit card or the UK's Faster Payments network — users are free to spend at contactless merchants just as they would with a typical bank card.

This is a big victory for users whose banks don't yet support Apple Pay. Though Apple has achieved near ubiquity among U.S. financial institutions, there are still some prominent holdouts overseas.

Major UK bank Barclays, for instance, took more than nine months to activate Apple Pay for its customers.

Consumers in the UK can download Boon from the App Store today.

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6 Comments

will_wales

said about 7 years ago

Barclays now do Apple Pay. So what's the point in this.

UroshnorOrSafeword?

said about 7 years ago

will_wales said:

Barclays now do Apple Pay. So what's the point in this.

Well, they are an example of an prominent globally recognised bank who has resisted Apple Pay, and then capitulated.

eg in Australia only ANZ has joined the Apple Pay bandwagon, and some of the others who are holding out, like CBA, are top 10 banks globally. (or you could pick some of the Canadian bank as well)

robertwalter

said about 7 years ago

will_wales said:

Barclays now do Apple Pay. So what's the point in this.

Barclays only offer Apple Pay on some cards. On other Barclays cards it is still SOL wrt Pay.

Freeloader

said about 7 years ago

This is such an awesome app ! Sure, a prepaid credit card with pretty much all other banks already supporting Apple Pay doesn't seem to make sense, but that's because they haven't really tested it properly, and you can get free TfL travels for at least a week, for free. I thought that it must be too good to be true. But when you sign up, there is no validation done of your name, which is a bit strange, but you can call yourself Elizabeth Windsor if you want, and then you get given a £5 signup bonus. Awesome ! And it works on TfL too. After doing a Heathrow to Watford train journey and then back to Zone 1 (yes, it was a long day) they charged me 10p !! But then at the end of the day they came to the realisation that it was actually £12.90, you would assume then that you would be overdrawn. But no, I still had £4.90 left as a balance. Then the next day, I tried it again, and lo and behold, another free travel card. Ok, so this is technically tricking the system, but then why on earth does it still accept the transactions and then the fools behind it can't add up ! :smiley: So far I have used it for a few days, but in theory you could use it for 50 days before you run out of the free fiver ! :lol: What a joke ! Like I would tell someone who can't do any basic subtractions my real bank details ! hahahaha

crowley

said about 7 years ago

Can't see this having all that much use among adults, who would surely opt for the benefits of a credit card, but it could be a good tool for giving children an allowance.