TD Bank to Soft Launch Apple Pay on December 16, Full Launch Coming Mid-January

[MacRumors]

TD Bank plans to soft launch Apple Pay on Tuesday, December 16, according to a source with knowledge of the bank's plans. As of tomorrow, the U.S. subsidiary of the Canadian bank will begin allowing customers to add their TD Bank Visa Debit or Credit Card to Apple Pay, making purchases with their iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.

As with other credit and debit cards, TD Bank cards will be added via Passbook or in the Apple Pay Settings menu. Some customers may be required to confirm their cards by calling TD Bank's customer service numbers.

Eligible cards are listed below:

- TD Bank Visa Debit Card
- TD Bank Business Visa Debit Card
- TD Bank Private Client Visa Debit Card
- TD Easy Rewards Visa (Platinum & Signature) Credit Card
- TD Cash Rewards Visa (Platinum & Signature) Credit Card
- TD Payment Plus Visa Platinum Credit Card
- TD First Class Visa Signature Credit Card
- TD Business Solutions Visa Credit Card
- TD Simply Flexible Visa Business Card

TD Bank employees have been training for the Apple Pay launch since early December, and training wrapped up last week ahead of tomorrow's soft launch. Though Apple Pay is soft launching at TD Bank on Tuesday and will become available to customers, a full launch, complete with advertising, is not expected to come until mid-January.

TD Bank's Apple Pay support is launching later than many other banks, but TD Bank has been an eager partner and announced that it would support Apple Pay shortly after the service first launched.

Apple formed partnerships with many of the largest banks in the United States that saw them adding support for Apple Pay just after it was released, but Apple has also been hard at work getting additional banks on board. In November, for example, several major banks began accepting Apple Pay, including Navy Federal, USAA, US Bank, and PNC.

According to Apple, more than 500 banks are signed on to support Apple Pay and are working on Apple Pay support. A running list of banks that currently support Apple Pay can be found on Apple's site.

Article Link: TD Bank to Soft Launch Apple Pay on December 16, Full Launch Coming Mid-January

 

[Prof.]

Why not CurrentC?

 

[MisakixMikasa]

When will Apple pay available in Canada? NFC terminal is everywhere in Canada. It is also sad to see Canadian bank supports Apple Pay but not available in Canada.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

Please let E*Trade Bank be next!

 

[MasterRyu2011]

Hmm...is it safe to say that this is where Google Wallet shines vs Apple Pay. Google Wallet will work just about with any card right off the bat, where as Apple Pay requires the participating bank to support it.

 

[rocketkev]

I'm glad TD is getting the ball rolling for Apple Pay in Canada. Almost every merchant has the NFC terminals. I'm guessing by the end of Feb 2015, most banks and credit cards will enable this feature.

 

[trekkie604]

Probably copying some of the backend infrastructure from their Canadian side. Our cards and terminals support NFC and contactless/tokenized payments at the merchants already

 

[HavocLink]

That's nice and all but where's the love for Discover?! Comeon Apple!

 

[MasterRyu2011]

That's nice and all but where's the love for Discover?! Comeon Apple!

Don't you mean come on Discover!

 

[jmh600cbr]

I'm optimistic for TD to be the first bank in Canada but I doubt Apple pay will come to Canada for another year

 

[Robert.Walter]

I'm optimistic for TD to be the first bank in Canada but I doubt Apple pay will come to Canada for another year

Delay in introduction will depress sales of the Watch; this will be incentive enough for apple to roll out Pay in Canada as soon as possible.

 

[SeeAroundCorner]

What about Target?

A notable omission from the list of TD Bank cards supporting Apple Pay is the Target Visa. Yes, that's right: TD Bank is the issuer of Target Visa cards in the U.S.

I would think Target would be all over this, given the massive credit card breach they put us through earlier this year. But if they're abstaining due to their membership in CurrentC, that's truly disgraceful.

 

[Tjex]

I'm glad TD is getting the ball rolling for Apple Pay in Canada. Almost every merchant has the NFC terminals. I'm guessing by the end of Feb 2015, most banks and credit cards will enable this feature.

Did you bother reading the article or the snippet?! This is US only, not available in Canada. You can already pay with your phone in Canada with TD but stupidly, need a special SIM card.

 

[RoboCop001]

Td ftw. YES! I am more excited than i should be. :d

........... wait a minute........... US only? ........ TD..................... wtf.

"Toronto Dominion Bank" pffft. Then again... the Dominion. Damn those Founders.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Hmm...is it safe to say that this is where Google Wallet shines vs Apple Pay. Google Wallet will work just about with any card right off the bat, where as Apple Pay requires the participating bank to support it.

Except you lose your rewards points because your bank isn't involved, it uses a virtual MasterCard credit card.

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Probably copying some of the backend infrastructure from their Canadian side. Our cards and terminals support NFC and contactless/tokenized payments at the merchants already

Our cards and terminals do too, and ours has no limit unlike the Canadian ones that are limited to $25.

I just paid a $244 car repair bill with payPass, nothing new. (this was before Apple Pay)

 

[gnasher729]

Hmm...is it safe to say that this is where Google Wallet shines vs Apple Pay. Google Wallet will work just about with any card right off the bat, where as Apple Pay requires the participating bank to support it.

I can't say whether or not Google Wallet does what you claim, but for the consumer it is important that Apple doesn't have _any_ access to your purchase data, while Google does.

Our cards and terminals do too, and ours has no limit unlike the Canadian ones that are limited to $25.

I just paid a $244 car repair bill with payPass, nothing new. (this was before Apple Pay)

That's something that will require some work. There have been Americans who managed to use Apple Pay with a US credit card while in the UK, but they were limited to £20. The £20 limit is currently reasonable in the UK, because all you need is to steal someone's debit or credit card, so you can buy at most £20 worth of stuff with a stolen card. Apple Pay is obviously safer, but UK equipment cannot (yet) distinguish between a plain card that could easily be stolen and some device that actually required the owner's finger print.

 

[1Zach1]

Glad to see that, I'll try this out tomorrow morning I guess.

 

[Eddie95Z28]

Td ftw. YES! I am more excited than i should be. :d

........... wait a minute........... US only? ........ TD..................... wtf.

"Toronto Dominion Bank" pffft. Then again... the Dominion. Damn those Founders.

+1 for the reference.

 

[mm201]

So if a Canadian bank can launch Apple Pay in the US, then what's the remaining barrier to them launching in Canada? If it's not the infrastructure and it's not the bank, could it be Apple themselves?

The TD app is a non-starter. It's android-only and requires a special SIM. Why on earth would it require a special SIM? What does the carrier have to do with my bank account or credit card? It also seems to imply end-to-end encryption between the device and credit card company is not used, which is worrisome to say the least.

 

[GenesisST]

So if a Canadian bank can launch Apple Pay in the US, then what's the remaining barrier to them launching in Canada? If it's not the infrastructure and it's not the bank, could it be Apple themselves?

The TD app is a non-starter. It's android-only and requires a special SIM. Why on earth would it require a special SIM? What does the carrier have to do with my bank account or credit card? It also seems to imply end-to-end encryption between the device and credit card company is not used, which is worrisome to say the least.

Could be governmental (key word "mental") or worse... political...

 

[bennibeef]

The other countries get Apple Pay at the next event, maybe even WWDC so Apple can tell you how successful Apple Pay was in the states and they are now rolling it out internationally. This is how it goes guys..

 

[hofer]

What about retailers?

It is all well and good that more banks are signing on, but what about retailers?
All my credit and debit cards are enabled, but none of the retailers that I frequent accept Apple Pay. I tried it out a couple of times at McDonalds and Walgreens, but these are stores I go to 2 or 3 times a year. Until my local grocery store, gas station and home improvement store start accepting it, it is pretty much useless to me.

 

[Daalseth]

I really want an iPhone 6, and the primary reason is for ApplePay, the first feature I've seen that is enticing enough to get me to upgrade my phone. Until it's here in Canada though i haven't any reason to replace my 5 year old LG dumb phone. It's old, it's slow, it has a fold out chicklet keyboard that's awful to type on but it gets the job done and it's paid for. Without ApplePay I just don't have a good enough reason to jump.

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Could be governmental (key word "mental") or worse... political...

That's very possible. I suspect ApplePay would be here already if BlackBerry invented it.

 

[DotCom2]

It is all well and good that more banks are signing on, but what about retailers?
All my credit and debit cards are enabled, but none of the retailers that I frequent accept Apple Pay. I tried it out a couple of times at McDonalds and Walgreens, but these are stores I go to 2 or 3 times a year. Until my local grocery store, gas station and home improvement store start accepting it, it is pretty much useless to me.

This is exactly it!
All these banks coming on board but very few retailers that I frequent do anyway, so what is the point!? I know it's going to take time but it can't come soon enough IMHO. And I am getting a bit worried that it is not getting accepted by more retailer faster.

 

[drewcosten]

I'm optimistic for TD to be the first bank in Canada but I doubt Apple pay will come to Canada for another year

Rumour has it that Apple Pay may come to Canada a lot sooner than that: https://twitter.com/BrianRoemmele/status/537675492229660672