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New Apple Cash Accounts Now Branded as Visa Cards
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It looks like it's still Green Dot. Technically speaking, that's completely separate from the payment network, and in fact it's an Apple subsidiary, "Apple Payments, Inc." that handles all of the direct payment services. Green Dot is basically just where the money is kept.
Apple Cash Terms and Conditions
Legal - Apple Payments - Apple
www.apple.com
Or Visa simply wanted too large of a cut. I can't see Visa turning Apple down flat, but they're a big enough player that they probably demanded much higher fees than Apple was willing to pay.
I can confirm that this procedure also worked for me and my card is now switched to VISA. The balance on my card was preserved.
Seems to be the exception, given that most others are making the switch with no problem. If there is no underlying reason for you to switch to VISA immediately, then waiting a day and trying again will likely work.
In my experience, once you've jumped through the hoops to enable Apple Cash the first time, the switch actually stays there even after you switch it off. Since you also don't need to go through the whole verification process again, I guess it gets tied to your Apple ID — I've even had it show up on a brand new iPhone, logged in with my Apple ID but not restored from backup.
I'm in Canada, with my regional info set to Canada, and I managed to switch it off and back on again in a few seconds. I've done this several times before as well. I only had to set my region to the "United States" the first time I set it up.
Yeah, from the images in Apple's support doc, I suspect the Visa Debit logo will eventually appear on the full-size card. It already appears in the card on my Apple Watch, and in the thumbnail versions (as you noted).
Nonsense. Everybody returns Apple’s calls. Always.
All anyone ever achieves by trying to block apple is that apple partners with someone else.
European banks colluded to frustrate Apple Pay roll out. Apple found willing partners. As the banks bled customers they finally jumped on board (Swiss banks suck hardest as they generally block debit cards and try to use Apple Pay to force customers into annual fee credit cards.)
I look forward to there being a global apple bank that wipes out many of the crappy customer gouging and unfriendly banks.
Ps but first I’d like to be able to convert CHF denominated apple gift cards for use in my USD apple account.
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What is Apple Cash?
I'm in the UK and even before the pandemic, contactless plastic debit cards were accepted very widely.
Post pandemic and there's barely anywhere that doesn't take it (maybe not 'old school' places).
I'll pay with my card and my iPhone/Apple Pay about 50% of the time each - whichever is closer to hand.
There's no real advantage in using Apple Pay though (maybe only to get through London Transport with the swift transit functionality).
So maybe that's why we haven't got Apple Cash? (Whatever it may be).
I'm in the UK and even before the pandemic, contactless plastic debit cards were accepted very widely.
Post pandemic and there's barely anywhere that doesn't take it (maybe not 'old school' places).
I'll pay with my card and my iPhone/Apple Pay about 50% of the time each - whichever is closer to hand.
There's no real advantage in using Apple Pay though (maybe only to get through London Transport with the swift transit functionality).
So maybe that's why we haven't got Apple Cash? (Whatever it may be).
Well I just described the actual process I went thru here in Switzerland. Once I switched it off the toggle disappeared. Closing and reopening app did not restore toggle. Only changing region to USA for set up and then switching region back to CH worked. (It was not difficult or cumbersome but a bit unsettling until I did the region switch. I just wrote about this as prophylactic balm for those others who might be anxious or flummoxed or freak out if their toggle does a runner.)
Apple Cash is primarly a person-to-person money transfer service, like PayPal. The Apple Cash card merely provides a way to spend that money directly from your Apple Cash account, instead of transferring it to your bank.
I have Apple Cash set up by virtue of having some U.S.-based banking arrangements, but I've never used the payment card for anything beyond a couple of quick tests, as the Discover network charges a 3% fee on foreign currency transactions (and almost nobody in Canada accepts it anyway). My Visa Debit card with my U.S. bank has a 0% foreign transaction fee, so it would be nice if this switch improves that, but we'll have to wait and see until Apple (or Visa) officially announces something.
Interesting, thanks. I wonder if it's different because I'm in Canada or if it's something about my particular setup. On or off, the switch has never disappeared for me (and there are long periods of time I've left it switched off, as I don't actually use it that much).
Years after advantages of the security benefits of Apple Pay being written about everywhere, there’s still comments to effect of “no advantage”?
Aside from the transaction technical security benefits, There’s the advantage of leaving your cards at home to never be lost.
Nothing (except Apple Watch) is quicker to hand than a phone in one’s pocket. Pulling a card from a wallet and returning it to pockets is a multi step two handed time consuming process.
Similar experience. Only used for tests and a bit of USD birthday cash swapping with my sister and mom. I had forgotten about foreign currency fees. Will be interested to see if this has improved. (But will still use my AMEX because SkyMiles rewards and supplemental coverages.)
I couldn't agree more completely, but I've also heard the opposite argument from many folks who carry one or two cards in a wallet case with their iPhone.
When Apple Pay first arrived in Canada, one snarky friend of mine kept reminding everybody of how he's long had his debit card inside his case (between the case and the iPhone) just to make a point about how "stupid" Apple Pay was.
To be honest, it's a fair argument in terms of convenience, as many folks in Canada (myself included) were doing this sort of thing long before Apple Pay came along. We've had contactless payment cards since 2008, and they've been commonplace since 2011.
The security argument is much more compelling, but I've still had a hard time convincing the many folks who actually believe it's less secure "because Apple has all my payment info," or "if someone steals my iPhone they can hack into all my bank accounts." ?
Thanks! Did all the crazy troubleshooting, even reset/restore on my iPad but across all devices Apple Cash is failing to reactivate with that message. Probably an issue localized to my account. I gave Apple Support a call and it has been escalated to engineering.
I might actually just go and buy something with it just to see what it works out to. Now that it's Visa Debit, it should follow the standard Visa Exchange Rate, so it won't be hard to figure out if there's a foreign transaction fee being added.
(The daily VISA exchange rate can be calculated here — I use this so much that I've created an iOS Shortcut to do the calculations more quickly ? — it's a daily rate, and it's always been bang-on whenever I make a CAD transaction or ATM withdrawal with my U.S. Visa Debit card).
I've had Apple Cash since launch. Mine is now showing it's on the VISA Network. and the VISA logo appears in the wallet app on the card image when looking at the Apple Cash details.
Guess I’ve now got the option to use Apple Cash at Costco since they only take Visa in the warehouse. Nice. ?
My account seems to have been switched automatically - US-based account, I've been using it from day 1, just went into settings to enable/disable, and it's labelled as a Visa Debit.
I wonder if this was perhaps done as part of the iOS 15.5 beta release and will happen automatically for everyone else at some point.
I wonder if this was perhaps done as part of the iOS 15.5 beta release and will happen automatically for everyone else at some point.
Enabling and disabling is what triggered the switch to Visa. Had you just left it alone it would have stayed on Discover.
But I didn't enable/disable it - I left it alone.
I was about to toggle it, but saw it had already been switched.
I was about to toggle it, but saw it had already been switched.
Apple Cash checking account coming soon? I believe there was a rumor Apple was interested in overhauling Apple Cash so you can direct deposit into your account and use it to withdraw money at ATMs a la Venmo Debit, PayPal Cash Card, etc.
This is not one of the fields that I am considered an expert, so this is just a random opinion. The money that goes into your Apple Cash account is not a payment. It is not an investment. It is most often a rebate for money you have already payed. It's like getting cash back when using a coupon at the grocery store. When you transfer money from your checking account to your Apple Cash, you are just moving money from one account to another. It's not an investment. You can't get more out of it than you put in. It's like transferring money from a checking account to a savings account or a CD. It's not like bitcoin that can be used to launder drug money or such.
I don't think this will be a big deal.
? Visa, MC, Discover and AmEx stopped requiring signatures in the US in 2012 for anything under $50. For a purchase of any amount, in 2018. If some places are still printing paper with the line on them, scribble away - they aren’t looked at when they go to collect their money.
True - someone could easily steal your card and use it up to the £100 transaction limit, I concede. That's harder to do with the iPhone (though you could steal it and use it on London Transport if Transit is enabled until you reach the daily cap).
And personally, I often go out with just my iPhone and not my card (for the simple reason that I am a lot less likely to forget my phone than my cards!
So I'm not saying that the iPhone is useless here in the UK. It's just not that essential.
I haven't been to the USA for a few years, but - respectfully - I think that our contactless systems are more advanced in the UK (and Europe) than you are there.
We are much more of a cashless society.
I think I last got some cash out in January, for example.
Transferring money shouldn't be a problem. Apple Cash (and PayPal) differentiate between this and receiving money from others.
It's the receiving of payments that needs to be reported, and it's not just about laundering money, but rather about unreported income. It's traditionally been too easy for freelancers and gig workers to "hide" money in other services like PayPal by receiving those payments and then never subsequently transferring them into a standard bank account.