Last edit by: storewanderer
Older (archived) threads: 2014-16
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FAQ- What is EMV contactless?
EMV contactless is a form of contactless/NFC that uses the same security and encryption that is used when inserting a chip card into an EMV-enabled terminal. Other than not having to sign/enter a PIN for smaller transactions, the security is effectively the same as chip and PIN/chip and signature.
In contrast, MSD contactless is an older version that is designed just and only for the United States. This effectively uses much the same flow as a swiped card transaction with the same rules.
- What is CDCVM?
CDCVM stands for Consumer Device Cardholder Verification Method. It's a method of telling the terminal that the customer verified their identity using their mobile device. Terminals that support it will waive the signature/PIN requirement typically in place for larger transactions, potentially saving time at checkout.
More info: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202527
- Does EMV contactless need to be supported to support CDCVM?
Typically, yes. (However, there are some exceptions below.)
- Why can't I tap my foreign-issued contactless card at most places in the US?
This is likely because the store does not support EMV contactless. Foreign issued contactless cards typically do not support MSD contactless since other markets have had EMV for quite some time. In contrast, most stores in the US have yet to get the necessary certifications/software for EMV contactless so they are typically MSD-only--if contactless is enabled at all. (See below for a list of stores where your card will likely work.)
- I paid for a purchase with Apple/Android/Samsung Pay and still had to sign for it.
Most likely, the store in question does not have EMV contactless enabled (see above question). However, there are instances where CDCVM does not work even with EMV contactless enabled. Restaurants that allow tip adjust, for example--where the tip amount is written on a paper receipt and entered by the staff later--cannot support CDCVM. It may simply be a matter of the merchant's processor or the POS software in use not supporting it too.
Another common reason is if you used a US-issued AmEx card with a mobile wallet. AmEx currently does not allow EMV contactless support in mobile wallets for these cards, so they always run as MSD contactless. Because of this, CDCVM is not supported (with very few exceptions, as noted below).
Note: if you used Samsung Pay, you may have paid with MST instead of NFC. Since MST emulates the magnetic pulses that the terminal receives when swiping a regular card, the normal magstripe rules apply.
- How can I tell whether EMV contactless was used?
An easy way to tell if you have Apple Pay is to pay with a Visa or MC while in airplane mode. Wallet will then show a transaction amount next to "Payment" for the card that was used. Alternatively, EMV-related information will typically print on the receipt (AID, etc.) if EMV contactless was used.
(Non-exhaustive) list of EMV contactless supporting merchants in the US:
- 7-Eleven
- 99 Ranch
- Albertsons (Safeway, Vons, Pak N Save, Jewel, Acme, Shaws, Star, Carrs, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Haggen, Eagle, Lucky UT/SoCal)
- Apple Store*†
- Athleta
- Auntie Anne’s Pretzels
- Banana Republic
- Costco Wholesale
- CVS
- DuaneReade*
- El Pollo Loco
- EG Group US (Quik Stop, Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb, Turkey Hill) Note: cashier must press "Electronic Payment" to activate NFC
- Five Below*
- Five Guys
- GAP
- Grocery Outlet*
- Harmon's Grocery
- H&M*
- Jolibee
- Kohl's*
- Lush Cosmetics*
- Maverik
- McDonald's*
- Meijer
- Old Navy
- Panera Bread
- PetSmart
- Ray's Food Place
- Round Table Pizza
- Royal Farms
- Red Ribbon Bakeshop
- Sheetz
- Sherm's Thunderbird Discount Markets Inc.*
- Sprouts
- Staples*
- Starbucks*
- Subway
- Walgreens*
- Weis Markets
- All businesses that use Square and support contactless*
- All businesses that use Clover and support EMV†**
- All businesses that use First Data standalone terminals (e.g. FD100+FD35, FD130) with EMV enabled**
* CDCVM support confirmed
** CDCVM support depends on store/restaurant
† CDCVM supported in MSD mode
USA contactless credit/debit/transit (2017 - 2021)
#6421
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SAN
Posts: 1,171
Initially I was thinking training issue as tap should be possible just by entering the amount first, but maybe they're trying to trigger MSD fallback? (Though since the standalone FD terminals have supported EMV contactless forever, I wouldn't think that'd be necessary. Plus, Citi Costco cards don't support MSD AFAIK.)
#6422
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,508
I guess the good news is that contactless is still possible when the terminal is made to think that the chip isn't working? I was kinda thinking that fallback would disable everything except for the magstripe reader.
#6423
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Long Island, NY
Programs: Marriott Titanium Elite/Lifetime Titanium, Delta Platinum Medallion, Hertz #1 Gold
Posts: 722
Another OMNY data point:
Tried going to the disaster known as tonights subway series game(Yankees announced it was postponed at 6:35pm for a 7:05pm first pitch). This time, I ended up using my Marriott Bonvoy AMEX physical plastic card($95 annual fee). Not as easy as express transit, but it worked as well as you'd expect(and better than my metal CSR card on Saturday). OMNY put an authorization for $2.70 on my card(*NOT* $2.75), and the activity is not showing on omny.info(even though I had the card info already in)
Order of easy to difficult for using OMNY: Apple Watch(Express Transit enabled, Chase CSR)->AMEX Marriott Bonvoy(Plastic) -> Chase CSR(Metal).
From now on I'm going to stick with the Watch(or maybe the iPhone itself).
Tried going to the disaster known as tonights subway series game(Yankees announced it was postponed at 6:35pm for a 7:05pm first pitch). This time, I ended up using my Marriott Bonvoy AMEX physical plastic card($95 annual fee). Not as easy as express transit, but it worked as well as you'd expect(and better than my metal CSR card on Saturday). OMNY put an authorization for $2.70 on my card(*NOT* $2.75), and the activity is not showing on omny.info(even though I had the card info already in)
Order of easy to difficult for using OMNY: Apple Watch(Express Transit enabled, Chase CSR)->AMEX Marriott Bonvoy(Plastic) -> Chase CSR(Metal).
From now on I'm going to stick with the Watch(or maybe the iPhone itself).
#6424
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Long Island, NY
Programs: Marriott Titanium Elite/Lifetime Titanium, Delta Platinum Medallion, Hertz #1 Gold
Posts: 722
Got a slightly better look tonight, nothing was on the LCD screen on the subway turnstile when I went through.
#6425
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: New England
Programs: American Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Silver
Posts: 5,645
Looks like HMart fixed their contactless. The "Contactless works with Samsung Pay only!" stickers are now gone, and my Amex worked with Apple Pay.
#6426
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,508
So I was thinking more about one of the area Chipotle locations incorrectly showing up on the Google Pay app (which still doesn't look to have anything even approaching EMV or contactless, BTW) and I still can't help but think that usage/location data does matter for inclusion. However, how accurate that is is possibly a function of a particular user's device. For instance, perhaps there were enough people actually using Google Pay in an adjacent location with the GPS coordinates just off enough for it to think it was being used in the Chipotle instead.
Other recent examples that I've seen:
Other recent examples that I've seen:
- Both Costco Wholesale and Costco Food Court showing up when near Costco (with Google Maps actually showing the two separate locations); I don't recall this happening with other area Costcos but I also haven't looked much when near one either
- An area Shake Shack without self-order kiosks next to a T-Mobile store (the latter of which is confirmed to have contactless)
- A Sacramento area Chipotle near Jack in the Box and a few other contactless-supporting restaurants
- An ice cream shop next to a Jersey Mike's
#6427
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: SEA/ATL
Posts: 61
BOA's contactless and FAQ page is now available: https://promo.bankofamerica.com/taptopay/
#6428
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,508
BOA's contactless and FAQ page is now available: https://promo.bankofamerica.com/taptopay/
Too bad they're still not publicly available for people not in NYC and SF.
#6429
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SAN
Posts: 1,171
Both Costco Wholesale and Costco Food Court showing up when near Costco (with Google Maps actually showing the two separate locations); I don't recall this happening with other area Costcos but I also haven't looked much when near one either
- The food court is outside at that location, just southwest of the entrance/exit, not inside the store.
- The photo center is just inside to the left of the entrance, not near the back where the pin is.
- The pin for Costco Wholesale itself is actually a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership.
#6430
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Indianapolis area
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 436
Off topic but I can't help but laugh at that map since multiple pins are in the wrong place:
- The food court is outside at that location, just southwest of the entrance/exit, not inside the store.
- The photo center is just inside to the left of the entrance, not near the back where the pin is.
- The pin for Costco Wholesale itself is actually a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership.
#6431
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: SAN
Programs: UA
Posts: 204
Just thought, maybe you are talking about somewhere else? An international grocery opened up here with the same name.
Last edited by HotelHacker; Jun 11, 2019 at 6:42 pm
#6432
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,385
Which hmart region? Hmart NJ has been working with my contactless amex gold, at least since beginning of the year?
Last edited by paperwastage; Jun 11, 2019 at 7:10 pm
#6433
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,508
I'm fairly sure they're the same setup/ownership other than the PNW locations. I could try to go to the older one that's a mile or two down the street at some point to see if there's been any change (last time I went to that one, they were still using Index, which tells you how long it's been).
#6434
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Window Seat
Programs: National Executive, HHonors Gold, IHG Platinum, Hyatt Visitor
Posts: 2,495
Between these two issues I actually walked out without completing my purchase last week and went to some other grocery store across the street to buy my items.
This is the same store that a few years ago had signs up that said you must show ID if your card doesn't have a PIN attached or similar language.
Have not seen anything like this in the US H-Mart Stores...
#6435
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Window Seat
Programs: National Executive, HHonors Gold, IHG Platinum, Hyatt Visitor
Posts: 2,495
Vancouver, Canada Skytrain (and the Sky Boat and the busses) all have Contactless Visa/MasterCard acceptance ability now at the fare gates.
This works GREAT. No more going to the kiosk when you are about to miss a train. No more trying to keep a ticket to tap in and out for the duration of the ride.
I tried this with both my physical card and using my phone. I think I actually liked the phone option better because it is more readily accessible than the physical card.
When you enter the gate it you tap and it immediately tells you to "proceed" and when you exit the gate it does the same thing. I never saw the charge amount display anywhere which was kind of weird... I think I would prefer to see that display... but this is a great system.
This works GREAT. No more going to the kiosk when you are about to miss a train. No more trying to keep a ticket to tap in and out for the duration of the ride.
I tried this with both my physical card and using my phone. I think I actually liked the phone option better because it is more readily accessible than the physical card.
When you enter the gate it you tap and it immediately tells you to "proceed" and when you exit the gate it does the same thing. I never saw the charge amount display anywhere which was kind of weird... I think I would prefer to see that display... but this is a great system.