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Have you ever wanted to use Apple Pay with your rewards or a store branded card? Well, you will be able to do just that in coming months with Apple's announcement that Apple Pay will soon be able to support both credit and debit cards issued by stores and rewards programs.
Next month iPhone users will also have more options when it comes to using Apple Pay in the U.S with the addition of one million new merchant locations, gearing up to accept the mobile wallet. In the fall with the roll-out of the new card services, Discover cardholders will also be able to add it to their iPhones as well. For consumers, this means more bandwidth when making payments with Apple Pay which accepts payment cards issued by most of the more popular banks and across all the large card networks. All in all, it makes up 98% of the payment card volume in the U.S.
"Apple Pay has kicked off a new era of payments and our users love the incredibly easy, secure and private way to pay," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "We're bringing our customers the most requested features with support for rewards and store-issued cards, and expanding how and where Apple Pay is accepted, which truly transforms the way people pay."
What about the rewards?
To get started people will just add their participating rewards and store cards into Apple Pay, and then use them when they check out the same way they would if they were actually paying with the actual credit card.
Some of the retailers coming on board include the Walgreens Balance Rewards program and Kohl's Department Stores Yes2You Reward program. Additional retailers looking to add their rewards programs to Apple Pay include Coca-Cola, Dunkin' Donuts, Panera Bread and Wegmans Food Markets.
"Our customers around the country already depend on Dunkin' Donuts as their all-day, everyday stop to keep them going," said Nigel Travis, chairman and CEO, Dunkin' Brands. "We can't think of a better way to reward their loyalty than by offering Apple Pay and the option to use personalized rewards with their purchases."
Store issued cards, including BJ's Wholesale Club, Kohl's Department Stores and JCPenney, will also be coming on board, with others coming onboard later in the year.
Who's on board, who's coming on board
Last fall Apple Pay was rolled out to 200,000 U.S based locations. Some new merchants coming on this year include Baskin Robbins, Best Buy, BevMo!, Big Lots, Dunkin' Donuts, El Pollo Loco, EXPRESS, Forever 21, JCPenney, Johnny Rockets, Kohl's Department Stores, LEGO Brand Retail, Levi's, Peet's Coffee, Trader Joe's and White Castle.
Square will also be launching their new Square Reader during the fall, which will give small businesses a way to integrate Apple Pay into their payment menu.
