Apple Pay Now Supported by Halifax, Lloyds, and Bank of Scotland in the UK [Updated]

[KrisLord]

With Apple Pay being a new feature, I don't see how not offering it on legacy products is anything a regulator would care about.

They've switched from Visa to MasterCard - why would Visa want to offer the bank Apple Pay?

 

[AtomicGrog]

Not sure if anyone's mentioned, but this is essentially one banking group under the 'Lloyds Group' umbrella, so no not a monumental step forward in the UK - more like one major player of the 3-4 steps forward (the others being Barclays, HSBC, and RBS with it's Natwest subsidiary).

And no Halifax isn't a Bank of Scotland division/subsidiary, they were the larger partner in the 2001 merger which formed HBOS which in turn was consumed by Lloyds during the GFC. How do I know all this? I was a BOS/HBOS employee through the whole process - from 1990 to 2009.

 

[cjmillsnun]

Ah. First Direct looks good. Although says there's a £10 monthly charge to hold an account with them? I never understood banks charging for use of a bank account, why should I pay them to store my money? It's not a lot though and the £125 switch reward is quite enticing.

First Direct don't charge if you stick £1000 in (basically your pay) every month, or another way to get out of the charges is to open a savings account and stick £1 in there.

 

[Gymgenius]

in the UK, if the shop accepts contactless payments at all, they will accept Apple Pay with no bother. This means that they may not advertise it, but there are simply thousands of places you can use it. Although annoyingly not at Sainsbury's or Tesco.

B&M Bargains accept contactless but not Apple Pay :-(

 

[Mark.]

Fantastic news!

I registered my Lloyds debit and credit cards on Saturday.

Have used it twice since; both at different Marks & Spencers.

Worked like a charm each time. Awesome.

 

[iGeek2014]

B&M Bargains accept contactless but not Apple Pay :-(

I'm not sure why that'd be the case because anywhere that is contactless should be absolutely fine with Apple Pay.

 

[thefilmexciter]

I love Apple Pay but I'm really surprised at how many of my transactions result in a shocked and surprised cashier exclaiming, "Oooh you're my first one using of those!" I'm like, really? But then to be fair, I NEVER see anyone else using their phone to Apple Pay. Maybe in London it's different, but around Oxford, I never see it.

 

[iGeek2014]

I love Apple Pay but I'm really surprised at how many of my transactions result in a shocked and surprised cashier exclaiming, "Oooh you're my first one using of those!" I'm like, really? But then to be fair, I NEVER see anyone else using their phone to Apple Pay. Maybe in London it's different, but around Oxford, I never see it.

I'll be honest I didn't spot anyone using Apple Pay on the London Underground last week. I visited Bill's at Kensington Underground Station and he said a few people had used the service.

 

[Twimfy]

Super excited to give my Halifax card a try on the watch, it registered first time with a verification code via text.

The missus is livid as she's a Barclays customer and can't do jack.

 

[AdamskiUK]

Switched from barclays a month ago, enjoying Apple Pay in my Santander 123 account with 3% interest on balances up to £20k plus cashback on direct debits!

I suggest you check today's headlines about Santander's 123. Your account charges are going up, amongst other things. £60 a year, as opposed to £24.

 

[jimthing]

Barclays ARE offering Apple Pay in the near(-ish) future. I wouldn't change banks just yet because of the delay to be honest.

These things have technical issues to set-up remember. And trust me, changing all your DD's/SO's and making sure they've all been moved correctly from bank A to bank B is still a real PAIN IN THE NECK last time I did it a few months ago – despite them supposedly doing it for you.

 

[scottish]

London is essentially a different country

None of the Tesco stores in Edinburgh and Glasgow accept contactless.

You've obviously not been to all the Tesco stores in Edinburgh (neither have I). Bruntsfield Metro accept contactless payments.

My Tesco is a new build, only opened a few months ago, and they don't have contactless, so it seems to be policy, rather than 'not got around to updating them yet'.

I'd say it's certainly a policy decision; they are trialling their own payment system called payqwik at the moment so obviously have their hopes on it doing well.

Not sure if anyone's mentioned, but this is essentially one banking group under the 'Lloyds Group' umbrella, so no not a monumental step forward in the UK - more like one major player of the 3-4 steps forward (the others being Barclays, HSBC, and RBS with it's Natwest subsidiary).

And no Halifax isn't a Bank of Scotland division/subsidiary, they were the larger partner in the 2001 merger which formed HBOS which in turn was consumed by Lloyds during the GFC. How do I know all this? I was a BOS/HBOS employee through the whole process - from 1990 to 2009.

Halifax has been a division of Bank of Scotland plc. since 2007 when a parliamentary act allowed the restructure of HBOS plc. The BoS brand and the Halifax brand (amongst others) operate under the BoS plc. banking licence.

 

[rbrian]

B&M Bargains accept contactless but not Apple Pay :-(

Are you sure? Contactless is contactless is contactless (and it doesn't get any shorter no matter how many times you say it!). Did the cashier say they didn't, out of ignorance? I've only used it about 10 times, and seven of those the cashier was shocked (the other three had seen it all before, and weren't excited about such old news... Two days after the launch...)

Try this next time: use one of those cases that holds cards and your phone, put a non-contactless card in it, then tell the cashier you're using the card not your phone. Or you could just argue with them and insist they try it! The till certainly won't notice any difference - as I said above, it doesn't matter if it's a card or a phone or a watch, the radio signals are identical.

 

[g3nw1]

London is essentially a different country

None of the Tesco stores in Edinburgh and Glasgow accept contactless.

LOL! game set and match to you Sir!!!

 

[jimthing]

Erm, while Central London has these things fairly widely (mainly smaller branches of chain stores, obviously, given it's Central London), even around other slightly further out affluent West London areas (Notting Hill, Shep Bush, Chiswick, Barnes, et al.) the chain stores are still being just so slow in rollout.

It's a right pain asking staff who are usually absolutely clueless – today in East Sheen highstreet Waitrose, they just looked at me like 'what are you talking about' blank faces when I asked them.

Great training the personnel depts are handing out here; it's all guesswork, when even asking customer service desks too, as they just don't know what availability/limits they even do. :|

Pity. As at this rate, we'll be waiting years for even decent London coverage, nevermind national.

 

[scottish]

Erm, while Central London has these things fairly widely (mainly smaller branches of chain stores, obviously, given it's Central London), even around other slightly further out affluent West London areas (Notting Hill, Shep Bush, Chiswick, Barnes, et al.) the chain stores are still being just so slow in rollout.

It's a right pain asking staff who are usually absolutely clueless – today in East Sheen highstreet Waitrose, they just looked at me like 'what are you talking about' blank faces when I asked them.

Great training the personnel depts are handing out here; it's all guesswork, when even asking customer service desks too, as they just don't know what availability/limits they even do. :|

Pity. As at this rate, we'll be waiting years for even decent London coverage, nevermind national.

Waitrose supports Apple Pay. Agree with bold bit - store must have a crap manager because they did have a memo for staff.

 

[jimthing]

Waitrose supports Apple Pay. Agree with bold bit - store must have a crap manager because they did have a memo for staff.

Yes I know they do, that's my point. SOME branches have it, some don't. SOME say you can spend only up to the £30 contactless card limit (just plainly stupid, given it's a large spend weekly grocery shop FFS!), others say more.

Do I as the customer have to figure it out for each branch of the same chain, or shouldn't the HQ management be doing it (and clearly advertising it!) for me...

Today I could have stood there holding the queue behind me up for 5 minutes while they asked the customer service desk, who then would have had to call the duty manager, who would've taken another 10 mins to arrive, all while completely "wasting everyone's time". Or instead, I could just pull out my wallet and pay with pin card, and leave, not wasting other customers time. Guess which option I chose.

Just silly waste of customers' time, and a completely moronically unstreamlined customer experience. In an age where customer experience is EVERYTHING to maintain loyalty.

 

[scottish]

Yes I know they do, that's my point. SOME branches have it, some don't. SOME say you can spend only up to the £30 contactless card limit (just plainly stupid, given it's a large spend weekly grocery shop FFS!), others say more.

Do I as the customer have to figure it out for each branch of the same chain, or shouldn't the HQ management be doing it (and clearly advertising it!) for me...

Today I could have stood there holding the queue behind me up for 5 minutes while they asked the customer service desk, who then would have had to call the duty manager, who would've taken another 10 mins to arrive, all while completely "wasting everyone's time". Or instead, I could just pull out my wallet and pay with pin card, and leave, not wasting other customers time. Guess which option I chose.

Just silly waste of customers' time, and a completely moronically unstreamlined customer experience. In an age where customer experience is EVERYTHING to maintain loyalty.

Every Waitrose shop should support it. The lack of knowledge on limit frustrates me; I have asked in a number of stores (Waitrose and others) and none of them have known.

 

[The Bogeyman]

I'm afraid there is more to the UK than central London. In the Tesco branches near me in (shudders) the North (you may have heard of it- just follow the M1 outside of the M25), they have the screen option for contactless, but it's greyed out.

Where in the UK do you live? all Tescos in central London accept Apple Pay.

 

[The Bogeyman]

I'm with HSBC. Works fine.

And after the recent announcement of "early 2016 for Barclays customers, I'd be switching too.

Who did you switch to? I'm one of those Barclays customers you mentioned before and extremely unimpressed. But really struggling to make the decision about who I could/should switch to.