Apple Pay Bank Support Continues to Grow

Apple Pay launched back in October alongside the iOS 8.1 update for iPhone and iPad users. The new payment platform already has a handful of banks that support it, as well as a growing list of retail stores. However, one big roadblock has been bank support, with only a handful of banks supporting Apple’s digital wallet service, but that’s quickly changing.

Apple has updated its list of banks and credit unions that support Apple Pay, and among those that now support the new digital payment platform are A+ Federal Credit Union, Amegy Bank of Texas, America First Credit Union, Bethpage, Federal Credit Union, California Bank & Trust, Connex Credit Union, Goldenwest FCU, Huntington Bank, KeyPoint Credit Union, Meijer Credit Union, National Bank of Arizona, Nevada State Bank, The Bank of Greene County, Vectra Bank, Zions First National Bank.

Earlier this month, eight new banks rolled out support for Apple Pay, most of which are smaller, regional banks. These include Security Service Federal Credit Union, Consumers Credit Union, Virginia Credit Union, Cyprus Federal Credit Union, Fairwinds Credit Union, Mountain America Credit Union, Partners Federal Credit Union, and Customers Bank.

A handful of new banks have rolled out support for Apple Pay in the recent months, including Associated Bank, BB&T, Black Hills FCU, Commerce Bank, Dupaco Community Credit Union, Idaho Central Credit Union, First Tennessee Bank, TD Bank North America, WesBanco, and UW Credit Union.

This comes shortly after the last big wave of major banks began supporting Apple’s new digital wallet platform, including USAA, US Bank, Navy Federal Credit Union, Barclaycard, PNC, L&N Federal Credit Union, UW Credit Union, and M&T Bank.

Only a handful of major banks supported Apple Pay when it initially launched, including Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo.

Apple Pay is essentially the company’s own digital wallet platform to take on the growing market of digital payment systems that already released by companies like Google.

Apple Pay allows you to store your credit card information on your iPhone and use it to buy stuff at any store that supports Apple Pay. The iPhone 6 has an NFC chip that allows you to tap the pay terminal at a store to instantly buy goods. Furthermore, doing this doesn’t give the store your credit card information, so you’re less susceptible to store hacks that steal credit card information, similar to the recent Home Depot and Target hacks.

Apple Pay also works with mobile shopping apps, allowing you to pay with a single touch of the Touch ID fingerprint sensor in shopping apps that support the feature.

Furthermore, Apple says that 220,000 store locations accept Apple Pay as a payment method, and that number will no doubt continue to grow into 2015 and beyond.

The company lists a handful of national chains that support Apple Pay, including McDonald’s, Panera Bread, Staples, Walgreens, Subway, Whole Foods, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, and the Disney Store.

As for apps that accept one-touch payment with Apple Pay, there are plenty that are already on board with it. Some notable shopping apps include Groupon, Panera Bread, OpenTable, Starbucks, Sephora, Target, and even Uber.