Grab (Vietnam)
#1
Community Director Emerita
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,778
Grab (Vietnam)
We used Grab on a trip to Vietnam a few months before the Covid shutdown. I took a look at the app today and realized I needed to enter a current credit card. Guess what. It doesn't like any of my multiple entries.
What do I do? What US credit card will it accept?
- Doesn't take AMEX
- Visa: tried multiple Chase cards. No joy.
- Visa: tried an Alaska Airlines card (Bank of America). No success
- Mastercard: tried a Flying Blue card. No success
What do I do? What US credit card will it accept?
#3
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: DFW
Posts: 1,145
We used Grab on a trip to Vietnam a few months before the Covid shutdown. I took a look at the app today and realized I needed to enter a current credit card. Guess what. It doesn't like any of my multiple entries.
What do I do? What US credit card will it accept?
- Doesn't take AMEX
- Visa: tried multiple Chase cards. No joy.
- Visa: tried an Alaska Airlines card (Bank of America). No success
- Mastercard: tried a Flying Blue card. No success
What do I do? What US credit card will it accept?
#4
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: DFW
Posts: 1,145
#5
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LON
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3,934
This seems to be recurring theme I see being reported for more and more US based cards. It fundamentally stems from the US aquiring bank handling the backend payment infrastructure being scattered across hundreds of smaller banking institutions, the result being that implementation of new payment tech is hard and slow. Former example was how the US only moved to chip + signature whereas many other jurisdictions went with chip + pin.
Anyways, the blocker is likely to be the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) and strong customer authentication (SCA} standard that is the blocker here - being able to authenticate a new retailer or a transaction with a push notification / SMS or other 2nd factor.
I am not based in the US or have direct experience of US cards but I have seen reports that some Citi cards support PSD2 and SCA and maybe some BOA cards, but not all. Modern challenger banks are more likely to have the modern backend systems to support these things out of the box. You probably need to reach out to your card issuer and ask them about PSD2 and SCA support, and moan at them when they shrug their shoulders.
For retailers that demand PSD2 and SCA the process to sign up or make a payment will just appear to fail if you card doesn't support these standards as the call into your card issuer to confirm you are the cardholder doesn't go anywhere. Retailers are frequently loathed to permit transactions that are not PSD2 / SCA authorised as in many jurisdictions they have to take all the risk on those transactions not being paid, whereas PSD2 / SCA authorised are almost risk free from the retailer's point of view.
Anyways, the blocker is likely to be the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) and strong customer authentication (SCA} standard that is the blocker here - being able to authenticate a new retailer or a transaction with a push notification / SMS or other 2nd factor.
I am not based in the US or have direct experience of US cards but I have seen reports that some Citi cards support PSD2 and SCA and maybe some BOA cards, but not all. Modern challenger banks are more likely to have the modern backend systems to support these things out of the box. You probably need to reach out to your card issuer and ask them about PSD2 and SCA support, and moan at them when they shrug their shoulders.
For retailers that demand PSD2 and SCA the process to sign up or make a payment will just appear to fail if you card doesn't support these standards as the call into your card issuer to confirm you are the cardholder doesn't go anywhere. Retailers are frequently loathed to permit transactions that are not PSD2 / SCA authorised as in many jurisdictions they have to take all the risk on those transactions not being paid, whereas PSD2 / SCA authorised are almost risk free from the retailer's point of view.
#6
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 3
We used Grab on a trip to Vietnam a few months before the Covid shutdown. I took a look at the app today and realized I needed to enter a current credit card. Guess what. It doesn't like any of my multiple entries.
What do I do? What US credit card will it accept?
- Doesn't take AMEX
- Visa: tried multiple Chase cards. No joy.
- Visa: tried an Alaska Airlines card (Bank of America). No success
- Mastercard: tried a Flying Blue card. No success
What do I do? What US credit card will it accept?
#7
Community Director Emerita
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,778
Did you try to add your credit card in the US before adding it in Vietnam? I'm wondering if there is any point in carrying a credit card with me that I've been unsuccessful in loading in the US.
#8
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 3
"To add a credit/debit card to Grab app, please ensure that youre currently in any of the 8 countries Grab operates in: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia. You will be unable to add your card to Grab app otherwise."
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London
Programs: Hilton, IHG - BA, GA, LH, QR, SV, TK
Posts: 17,026
#11
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Virginia City Highlands
Programs: Nothing anymore after 20 years
Posts: 6,907
You have potentially two problems here - both or one of them completely block the transaction going thru.
The first problem is with Grab geofencing - not allowing you to open/use the card outside of their market areas. This is relatively easy to fix - go to your phone app settings, find Grab and deny location access - set it to Never. When you open the app next time it will complain that it can't access the location, click Cancel and instead select a location, you can set SGN for example. The app should work fine after that. Obviously, you need to change location access to Allow once you are in Vietnam.
The second problem, as already mentioned is with 3D Security - 3DS, basically 2FA, and the second factor for cards issued in Asia is 6/8 digit SMS code sent to the phone as an authentication. US issued card use a localized version of 3DS without SMS, which is done online. If you have ever seen the 'Verified by VISA' or 'Secured by Mastercard' pop-up/flash page when you made an online transaction with your US-issued card - this is it.
How to fix the above - you need to call your card issuer and ask them to put your call to 'VISA security/Verified by VISA' department - is not the card issuing bank blocking the transaction, it is done by VISA. Once you are on phone with VISA department (expect to go thru quite a serious KYC - they will ask questions from your credit history/accounts, I was asked for example what is the county's name where billing ZIP code of the card is) tell them that you are trying to make online purchase with an Asian vendor which asks for OTP and ask them to whitelist Grab in their system. They can do it while you are on phone and then once confirmed that they whilelisted Grab, you can open the app and add your card there and see how it works.
Background: I have been using Grab for >6 years and continue using it while still in the US to make some bill payments in Singapore. I have and used Chase Sapphire and Chase United Business cards with Grab without much problem by using both fixes described above:
The first problem is with Grab geofencing - not allowing you to open/use the card outside of their market areas. This is relatively easy to fix - go to your phone app settings, find Grab and deny location access - set it to Never. When you open the app next time it will complain that it can't access the location, click Cancel and instead select a location, you can set SGN for example. The app should work fine after that. Obviously, you need to change location access to Allow once you are in Vietnam.
The second problem, as already mentioned is with 3D Security - 3DS, basically 2FA, and the second factor for cards issued in Asia is 6/8 digit SMS code sent to the phone as an authentication. US issued card use a localized version of 3DS without SMS, which is done online. If you have ever seen the 'Verified by VISA' or 'Secured by Mastercard' pop-up/flash page when you made an online transaction with your US-issued card - this is it.
How to fix the above - you need to call your card issuer and ask them to put your call to 'VISA security/Verified by VISA' department - is not the card issuing bank blocking the transaction, it is done by VISA. Once you are on phone with VISA department (expect to go thru quite a serious KYC - they will ask questions from your credit history/accounts, I was asked for example what is the county's name where billing ZIP code of the card is) tell them that you are trying to make online purchase with an Asian vendor which asks for OTP and ask them to whitelist Grab in their system. They can do it while you are on phone and then once confirmed that they whilelisted Grab, you can open the app and add your card there and see how it works.
Background: I have been using Grab for >6 years and continue using it while still in the US to make some bill payments in Singapore. I have and used Chase Sapphire and Chase United Business cards with Grab without much problem by using both fixes described above:
#12
Community Director Emerita
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,778
@invisible, thank you for that thoughtful, detailed explanation of how to add a credit card from the US. It worked! First, I denied it location access. Then I set a hotel location in Ho Chi Minh. Then I tried adding a Chase card. And it was added. I was really glad I didn't have to go thru calling the credit card company and follow your further instructions. Now I am comfortable that I will be able to use GRAB in Vietnam. You are a star.
#13
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Virginia City Highlands
Programs: Nothing anymore after 20 years
Posts: 6,907
You are welcome. I found this accidentally while still in Singapore. BTW other are other options for rideshare in Vietnam (at least that was the case when I was there last time in 2019, no idea about now). One is Giejek, other is FastGo. You might want to have them installed for the unusual case when there is no Grab available.
#14
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LON
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3,934
Agree, hat tip to invisible on sharing how to get around a US card that can't do PSD2 authentication. I didn't know that the card brands had a service in the US to make the issue go away for specific transactions. Obviously causes a lot of friction, and not ideal, hopefully the US payment services industry can catch up quickly.