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Several Retailers to Begin Testing Apple Pay Rival CurrentC
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I have a Chase card and they told me it was CHIP+PIN (just issued!)...but I couldn't use it on the London metro (Tube) in June.
Now in raspberry...
Scratch that. I mean raspber-E
Actually, I think the name Currentc has a serious branding/pronunciation problem if you don't capitalize the final "C". I want to pronounce it "current-sih" or "current-cuh". Both ugly and staccato.
(Geez. They can't even get the name right.)
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Credit card or debit card? Likely whoever you talked to was mistaken because at least for credit, there's no PIN at all according to their own FAQ page about the topic:
It is a debit card, and I was told that my card PIN would also serve as my CHIP PIN. I called them several times to verify this over the phone...so what is it, SIG instead of PIN, that is dumb!
It's Complicated™. Basically there's two modes that the card can be run as, same as for swiping: debit and credit. Not every store in the US is capable of doing the former and definitely nowhere outside the US. For the places that can't use debit (or if you explicitly cancel out of the PIN prompt somewhere that is capable of debit), it will be run as credit. In "credit" mode it behaves like a chip and signature credit card, but if something like a ticket machine asks, the debit card's PIN should work. This PIN is not stored on the card and is verified with Chase when used (otherwise known as "online" PIN).
Some countries like the UK aren't capable of using online PIN because their chip and PIN systems are "offline" (that is, the card itself is what stores the PIN). That shouldn't matter too much though because of Visa's mandate that unattended machines support what is known as "no CVM" after July 1st of this year. Every chip-enabled card is capable of using this mode if necessary but of course, European cards always ask for PIN because it's ranked much higher in the priority ordered list of verification modes that they support (known as the Cardholder Verification Method list, or CVM list for short).
Anyway, your visit was in June so it's likely that you tried to use a ticket machine that wasn't upgraded yet. But as I've said before, others have reported that previously problematic machines now work with chip and signature cards with no issues.
Thank you for the very knowledgeable response!
Good to know for the future. Since you travel a lot - Do you know if Brazil uses a similar system (going there in October)?
I don't travel nearly as often as some--just read a whole bunch of info about it
Brazil is chip and PIN I believe (just not sure which type of PIN).
Thank you! Just wondering. In any case, glad that we are finally catching up (somewhat) with the rest of the industrialized world in terms of payment systems.I don't travel nearly as often as some--just read a whole bunch of info about it
What a lousy assumption while hiding behind "typically". There are many reasons people may have a phone without NFC.
Personally I am waiting for a phone to be released that is anworthy upgrade as a whole from what I have, NFC is just 1 feature.
The reason it is not make or break for me ia I have seen a trebd of retailers doing away with contactless payment readers or disabling the function so as to only allow chip n pin payments.
I am tech savvy and do see the benefits of Apple Pay. But the infrastructure seriously needs addressing.
no chase cards are chip and pin, they're all chip and sig. either you misunderstood or they miscommunicated.
Nearly three years after the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) was founded in August 2012, several U.S. retailers and restaurants belonging to the consortium will begin publicly testing their Apple Pay rival CurrentC in Columbus, Ohio over the coming weeks, according to The Wall Street Journal.
CurrentC is a mobile payments solution that requires scanning a QR code with a smartphone for contactless payment from a checking account, gift card or private label debit or credit card. The service does not currently accept major bank-issued credit cards such as Visa or MasterCard as retailers look to avoid costly fees.
Public testing of CurrentC is set to begin just as MCX's three-year exclusivity window expires this week, allowing retailers to explore other mobile payment solutions. Yesterday, MCX member Rite Aid reversed course and will begin accepting Apple Pay and Google Wallet on August 15, in addition to Android Pay when available.
Best Buy, a founding member of MCX, also began accepting Apple Pay for in-app purchases in April and announced that full Apple Pay support is coming to Best Buy stores in the U.S. later in 2015. The electronics retailer will be monitoring CurrentC's limited trial run but has not confirmed that it will be implementing the platform in stores.
Other MCX members include 7-Eleven, Alon Brands, CVS, Darden Restaurants, HMSHost, Hy-Vee, Lowe's, Michaels, Publix, Sears, Shell, Sunoco, Target and Walmart, some of which have confirmed plans to launch CurrentC in the future. Other retailers remain in the process of exploring contactless payment solutions or installing the necessary infrastructure to support smartphone-based transactions.
Update 7:10 AM: MCX CEO Brian Mooney tells Re/code that CurrentC may not see a broad launch until 2016, depending on how the early testing in Ohio proceeds.
Article Link: Several Retailers to Begin Testing Apple Pay Rival CurrentC
Sounds exactly like the rubbish that Tesco are investing in, explains why virtually no stores have contactless yet.
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1333131/tesco-lets-customers-pay-smartphone-payqwiq-trial
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1333131/tesco-lets-customers-pay-smartphone-payqwiq-trial
Yip, I mentioned that a few posts back. Also it's similar to what Sainsbury's and Asda are supporting with Zapp. http://www.zapp.co.uk/
It keeps them in line, and not experimenting with other more technologically advanced and customer focused systems.
It's also about the numbers:
"Yeah, you have your Apple Pay and Google Wallet, but the largest retail stores don't take those silly things. They have something better. Real Soon Now... What it does is, instead of using your credit card and tapping a button twice, you have to fill in a form with all kinds of personal and financial data, then, at the terminal, you have to pull your phone out, scan a code, then your phone has to send this to a clearinghouse that we own a part of, so that the money is taken directly from your bank account. If we mess up, we'll just ask you to prove that you didn't make that payment, and then you'll get your money back."
CurrentC - It's like money in the bank. Our bank. -Walmart
Here is a suggestion:
When you get a new bank, if you get direct deposit, have a portion go to that bank.
Then, set up all of your bill pay, banking software, and other items with the new bank/credit union.
After that, pull the trigger, and have all of the transactions come and go from the new credit union/bank, and it becomes easy.
The nice thing is that since Internet banking, it's a lot easier to keep a good bank, and get a new one. Back in the day, every time you moved to another state, you had to get a new bank, and gosh, that was fun.
Not to get all jingoistic... but there aren't any markets "out there" that are bigger than the USA. The US is a bigger market than the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th markets combined. It takes the 6th to barely edge out the USA, alone. For all its population, India - as an example - only accounts for 2.5% of consumption. The USA is 26.7%. Canada, with its comparitively small population, is 2.4%...
So... to answer the question... they're going after the US, because that's where the market for this is. Their entire system is built around a US-only low-value payment system - ACH. This is your EFT in Canada, your BACS in the UK, your SEPA in the EZ, your Autopay in HK; India also has one, but it's rarely used... to attempt this elsewhere would be to embark upon setting up individual local low-value payment systems. This type of integration costs money, and the reward for success is smaller. So they're going for the chance of a higher return, even with less success.