Western Union now accepting Apple Pay for sending money transfers
Thousands of Western Union locations will begin accepting Apple Pay, the company announced on Tuesday, providing customers a way to transfer money and pay bills with their iPhone.
Western Union's flagship locations, a well as kiosks at more than 7,600 Walgreens and Duane Reade stores in the U.S., will all support Apple Pay for money transfers. Support has already been launched at the Western Union location at 1440 Broadway in New York City.
Apple Pay support means that customers will be able to use their iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus to fund a Western Union Money Transfer transaction or bill payment. Sending money requires a registered debit card in Passbook with a participating Apple Pay bank.
Contactless payment terminals at Western Union locations will allow customers to hold their iPhone near the reader with their fingerprint on Touch ID. As with traditional Apple Pay purchases, the debit card number is not transmitted in payment or shared with Western Union, enhancing the security of the exchange.
"Innovative payment options are a strategic focus for Western Union, and starting to accept Apple Pay is in keeping with the company's blueprint for the future," said Odilon Almeida, president of Western Union in the Americas and European Union. "Our customers' needs and preferences are top of mind."
The company said that international money transfer senders, particularly recent immigrants, are mobile-savvy customers, noting that six out of ten migrants own a smartphone. In addition, over two-thirds of migrant international money transfer senders, and more than 80 percent of non-migrant senders, own a smartphone.
"Our customers have an expectation of using mobile technology to make money transfer service and product accessibility easier," said Chief Information Officer David Thompson, executive vice president of Global Operations and Technology. "Western Union is rising to the occasion as we harness our system with modifications to link cash and digital transfers between retail locations, mobile phones, prepaid cards, online and traditional bank accounts and ATMs."
The Apple Pay contactless e-wallet service debuted last October with support from a number of major banks, credit card providers, and an estimated 225,000 retailers participating. Support has gradually expanded since then, with MasterCard and the PGA Tour announcing their support for concessions purchases this week.
Apple Pay in-store support will expand to the forthcoming Apple Watch when it debuts this year. The accessory will also grant Apple Pay functionality to owners of earlier, NFC-less iPhone models dating back to the iPhone 5.
Western Union's flagship locations, a well as kiosks at more than 7,600 Walgreens and Duane Reade stores in the U.S., will all support Apple Pay for money transfers. Support has already been launched at the Western Union location at 1440 Broadway in New York City.
Apple Pay support means that customers will be able to use their iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus to fund a Western Union Money Transfer transaction or bill payment. Sending money requires a registered debit card in Passbook with a participating Apple Pay bank.
Contactless payment terminals at Western Union locations will allow customers to hold their iPhone near the reader with their fingerprint on Touch ID. As with traditional Apple Pay purchases, the debit card number is not transmitted in payment or shared with Western Union, enhancing the security of the exchange.
Flagship Western Union locations, along with more than 7,600 Walgreens and Duane Reade stores with kiosks, will support Apple Pay.
"Innovative payment options are a strategic focus for Western Union, and starting to accept Apple Pay is in keeping with the company's blueprint for the future," said Odilon Almeida, president of Western Union in the Americas and European Union. "Our customers' needs and preferences are top of mind."
The company said that international money transfer senders, particularly recent immigrants, are mobile-savvy customers, noting that six out of ten migrants own a smartphone. In addition, over two-thirds of migrant international money transfer senders, and more than 80 percent of non-migrant senders, own a smartphone.
"Our customers have an expectation of using mobile technology to make money transfer service and product accessibility easier," said Chief Information Officer David Thompson, executive vice president of Global Operations and Technology. "Western Union is rising to the occasion as we harness our system with modifications to link cash and digital transfers between retail locations, mobile phones, prepaid cards, online and traditional bank accounts and ATMs."
The Apple Pay contactless e-wallet service debuted last October with support from a number of major banks, credit card providers, and an estimated 225,000 retailers participating. Support has gradually expanded since then, with MasterCard and the PGA Tour announcing their support for concessions purchases this week.
Apple Pay in-store support will expand to the forthcoming Apple Watch when it debuts this year. The accessory will also grant Apple Pay functionality to owners of earlier, NFC-less iPhone models dating back to the iPhone 5.
Comments
This should set up a flood of iPhone 6 and 6 sales as immigrants change to Apple.
Western Union of course would avoid fraud.
I though only scammer use Western Union today. All this will do is allow people to be scam with one click of their phone.
I though only scammer use Western Union today. All this will do is allow people to be scam with one click of their phone.
People sending money to other countries. Usually immigrants (illegal or otherwise) sending earnings back home.
Is there something special businesses have to do/set up to accept ?Pay or is ?Pay basically just synonymous with NFC now?
Does it matter? Apple is continuing to get free Advertisement from yet another company and Google Wallet, not even Google seems to care as I've not once seen any advertisement from them in the 4+ years it's been around and few people using it. Far less people use the keyfobs. I would assume NFC would work for anyone and that the only reason not to is if the transaction fee's were higher for Google Wallet, otherwise it doesn't hurt anything to allowing any type of NFC. It's Apple Pay that's getting all the press which in turn can sell more phones for Apple.
I hope they place stickers or something on these thousands of systens.
Yes I do think it matters if the term mobile payments has been replaced by ?Pay. I think it's a huge win for Apple if ?Pay becomes the new Kleenex or Q-Tip. Just like how MP3 players became iPods and tablets became iPads.
This is what I typically see:
Does it matter? Apple is continuing to get free Advertisement from yet another company and Google Wallet, not even Google seems to care as I've not once seen any advertisement from them in the 4+ years it's been around and few people using it. Far less people use the keyfobs. I would assume NFC would work for anyone and that the only reason not to is if the transaction fee's were higher for Google Wallet, otherwise it doesn't hurt anything to allowing any type of NFC. It's Apple Pay that's getting all the press which in turn can sell more phones for Apple.
Surprisingly in November Google Wallet accounted for 4% of mobile payments, while Apple Pay was 1%, so someone seems to use it.
I have two credit cards and one debit card. So far only one of those cards work with ?Pay, the Chase Freedom Visa card. A co-branded Capital One MasterCard doesn’t work and a visit to Capital One’s website indicates it’s not going to work anytime soon. The debit card is from a large Midwestern regional bank and they have no immediate plans to support ?Pay. Then there are the gasoline company cards that may never work either.
So this move to NFC payments is going to be a long slog. I can’t see my self leaving any of my credit cards home in the foreseeable future.
Pretty much. If Western Union support ?Pay then they support NFC-based payments. Now, Western Union could specifically disallow other NFC-based payment types from working, just as CVS et al. have disallowed ?Pay from working on their NFC-based systems, but that's extra effort for them to do.
It does matter. In the short-term it boosts ?Pay's presence and mindshare, but in the longterm it could result in the loss of a trademark, although I'm guessing that the specific use of the ? logo in the name will prevent that from happening, unlike other name brands turned generic, like aspirin.
It does matter. In the short-term it boosts ?Pay's presence and mindshare, but in the longterm it could result in the loss of a trademark, although I'm guessing that the specific use of the ? logo in the name will prevent that from happening, unlike other name brands turned generic, like aspirin.
I think that's part of why they're going into using the ? logo for items, that's really hard for it to be genericised.
I think there are many NFC mobile payment systems around the world. In order to use a payment system the user and the retailer would both need to have membership or support for the program such as a participating bank, Google or transit authority, etc. Just because a retailer has an NFC equipped terminal doesn't guarantee that they accept all NFC payment programs. I think it is similar to how Cirrus, Plus, Maestro, JCB, etc work for ATM machines. Right now ?Pay is US only so you are probably correct that most retailers that accept ?Pay probably accept Google Wallet as well. But if you were a tourist from Japan, I'd be surprised if a Japanese NFC payment program will work in the US.
In the case of Western Union, they only accept debit cards so your ?Pay AMEX is not going to work there.
Interesting that you can now pay for the late 19th century's highest tech service with the early 21st century's.
Sure, it's a given that the other parties involved, like the multinationals and banks, need to be on board for the end-to-end connection to work.