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USA contactless credit/debit/transit (2017 - 2021)

Old Jan 16, 2017, 6:55 am
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Last edit by: storewanderer
Older (archived) threads: 2014-16
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FAQ
  1. 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.

  2. 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

  3. Does EMV contactless need to be supported to support CDCVM?

    Typically, yes. (However, there are some exceptions below.)

  4. 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.)

  5. 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.

  6. 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 Annes 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
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USA contactless credit/debit/transit (2017 - 2021)

Old Mar 11, 2018, 7:38 pm
  #3616  
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Originally Posted by Points Scrounger
Chase ATM slots are locked during a transaction. Before a yanker would "break" the terminal, it would dawn on them it was supposed to be that way. You can't pull out a Chase card, using regular force anyway. ​​​​​
Chase ATMs also don't really have any of the card sticking out, unlike most merchant terminals. Because of that, it's more clear that the card should stay there (at least to me, anyway).
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Old Mar 11, 2018, 8:20 pm
  #3617  
 
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Originally Posted by tmiw

Anyway, tapping my Diners Club MC failed at JCPenney today. Supposedly Apple Pay etc. work though so...
My Canadian Amex has also failed at JCPenney when tapping (with both the card and Apple Pay)
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Old Mar 11, 2018, 9:34 pm
  #3618  
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Take a look at pages 24-39 of this PDF. It appears that the new parking garage SAN is building may have mobile payment options (though possibly not enabled to start). Interestingly, they're using Skidata just like one of the local shopping malls, but I couldn't see any contactless readers under the plastic covering the pay stations at the local mall. Maybe the latter decided not to go for that option?
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 8:51 am
  #3619  
 
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Originally Posted by Points Scrounger
Chase ATM slots are locked during a transaction. Before a yanker would "break" the terminal, it would dawn on them it was supposed to be that way. You can't pull out a Chase card, using regular force anyway. ​​​​​
First National Bank of Omaha atms now lock your card in since they added chip support. First time I've seen an EMV enabled atm around here before. They use a similar atm model to the older NCR atm Wells Fargo still uses at some locations.

Oh and Harbor Freight apparently accepts contactless now but appears to be contactless MSD only and the nfc dots appear on the screen.
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 10:24 am
  #3620  
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Originally Posted by scibot
First National Bank of Omaha atms now lock your card in since they added chip support. First time I've seen an EMV enabled atm around here before. They use a similar atm model to the older NCR atm Wells Fargo still uses at some locations.

Oh and Harbor Freight apparently accepts contactless now but appears to be contactless MSD only and the nfc dots appear on the screen.
On that note, I'm still not sure BofA uses EMV for their own cards. The ATMs sure behave like they do but there's no EMV data on the receipt (while I believe there is for non-BofA cards). Chase also has some weirdness in that it auto-selects the common AID for their own cards but gives an application selection prompt for all other US cards.

Oh, and still no contactless for the latter. Not sure what the holdup is.
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 1:19 pm
  #3621  
 
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I recently called Amex and asked them to send me the PRG card with the contactelss chip.

So far, I have tried to use it 6 times and it failed 5 times:

-NJTransit ticket machine - fail (x3)
-Office vending machine - fail (x2)
-Honeygrow credit card machine - success

For NJT, it asked me for a zipcode, indicating the card was recognize. it failed after I entered the zip code.

Should I ask for a new card, or is it possible the vending machines were configured incorrectly? Both displayed the Amex logo on the touch pad.

Last edited by jamesinclair; Mar 12, 2018 at 1:25 pm
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 1:41 pm
  #3622  
 
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Originally Posted by jamesinclair
I recently called Amex and asked them to send me the PRG card with the contactelss chip.

So far, I have tried to use it 6 times and it failed 5 times:

-NJTransit ticket machine - fail (x3)
-Office vending machine - fail (x2)
-Honeygrow credit card machine - success

For NJT, it asked me for a zipcode, indicating the card was recognize. it failed after I entered the zip code.

Should I ask for a new card, or is it possible the vending machines were configured incorrectly? Both displayed the Amex logo on the touch pad.
It really only failed twice and vending machine failures are common. The card is fine.
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 2:11 pm
  #3623  
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Originally Posted by AllieKat
It really only failed twice and vending machine failures are common. The card is fine.
Wait, how did you get two? Excluding vending machines there are still three failures.

Also, speaking of NJTransit the machines I saw at EWR didn't seem to have any sort of contactless reader. The logos were on the display though, so that may still be rolling out.
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 3:00 pm
  #3624  
 
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Originally Posted by tmiw
Wait, how did you get two? Excluding vending machines there are still three failures.

Also, speaking of NJTransit the machines I saw at EWR didn't seem to have any sort of contactless reader. The logos were on the display though, so that may still be rolling out.
Two unique failures in three unique merchants. Two vending machines (a ticket vending machine is still a vending machine)
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 3:22 pm
  #3625  
 
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Originally Posted by tmiw
Wait, how did you get two? Excluding vending machines there are still three failures.

Also, speaking of NJTransit the machines I saw at EWR didn't seem to have any sort of contactless reader. The logos were on the display though, so that may still be rolling out.
Just to clarify, I tried it at 3 separate NJT machines, not the same one 3 times (I had time for my train).

The touch pad looks like this:

http://blog.tstc.org/wp-content/uplo...es-777x437.jpg
https://heretohomeandbeyond.files.wo...07/etc-003.jpg

This article indicated the readers were installed in 2011

NJ Transit Commuters Use Smartphones to Make Purchases

Is this kind of fail rate common?

I only asked for the contactless card because I am going to Paris soon, and I read I might have luck using it at machines if my chip card without pin is rejected (ie, Metro, Velib).
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 4:29 pm
  #3626  
 
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Originally Posted by jamesinclair
I recently called Amex and asked them to send me the PRG card with the contactelss chip.
...
So far, I have tried to use it 6 times and it failed 5 times:
...
Should I ask for a new card, or is it possible the vending machines were configured incorrectly? Both displayed the Amex logo on the touch pad.
The problem isn't your card, it's the point of sale system. If the card is noticed by the system but does not approve the transaction, the software is to blame.

Your card will work (if your card is contactless EMV, which AMEX cards are), in countries were contactless has been programmed correctly, unlike here where merchants are too lazy to deploy EMV contactless, if contactless at all.
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 5:54 pm
  #3627  
 
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Originally Posted by tmiw
On that note, I'm still not sure BofA uses EMV for their own cards. The ATMs sure behave like they do but there's no EMV data on the receipt (while I believe there is for non-BofA cards). Chase also has some weirdness in that it auto-selects the common AID for their own cards but gives an application selection prompt for all other US cards.

Oh, and still no contactless for the latter. Not sure what the holdup is.
https://imgur.com/hVBZSZZ What hold up its working fine at my local Harbor Freight! The nfc dots to take a few seconds to appear though. But Kum & Go no longer works what in the heck and I even went the same location that work doesn't either now, makes NO sense. Kum & Go seems to be as bad as CVS' IT lmfao! The nfc dots are completely missing now so its disabled. https://imgur.com/oiUTiJh
Another c-store/gas station called Pump And Pantry now has contactless too and they owned by a company in my state and they use a similar software to Casey's but it actually reads my phone unlike Casey's.
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 6:39 pm
  #3628  
 
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Originally Posted by tmiw
On that note, I'm still not sure BofA uses EMV for their own cards. The ATMs sure behave like they do but there's no EMV data on the receipt (while I believe there is for non-BofA cards). Chase also has some weirdness in that it auto-selects the common AID for their own cards but gives an application selection prompt for all other US cards.

Oh, and still no contactless for the latter. Not sure what the holdup is.
I used a BoA ATM recently with a BoA Visa Debit, and the card stayed inside the ATM for the entire transaction.
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 6:54 pm
  #3629  
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Originally Posted by jamesinclair
Is this kind of fail rate common?

I only asked for the contactless card because I am going to Paris soon, and I read I might have luck using it at machines if my chip card without pin is rejected (ie, Metro, Velib).
AmEx contactless cards do fail more often in the US than the same card in Apple or Google Pay, but I wouldn't say it's all that common.

Originally Posted by scibot
https://imgur.com/hVBZSZZ What hold up its working fine at my local Harbor Freight! The nfc dots to take a few seconds to appear though. But Kum & Go no longer works what in the heck and I even went the same location that work doesn't either now, makes NO sense. Kum & Go seems to be as bad as CVS' IT lmfao! The nfc dots are completely missing now so its disabled. https://imgur.com/oiUTiJh
Another c-store/gas station called Pump And Pantry now has contactless too and they owned by a company in my state and they use a similar software to Casey's but it actually reads my phone unlike Casey's.
To clarify, I meant Chase ATMs, not Harbor Freight. Those supposedly have the hardware but it's still not enabled.

Originally Posted by emmanuel_t
I used a BoA ATM recently with a BoA Visa Debit, and the card stayed inside the ATM for the entire transaction.
Right, the ATMs keep the card as though the chip's used but there's no indication on receipts that that occurred. I should try withdrawing with the Schwab card and see if the AID still shows up for those.

Originally Posted by AllieKat
Two unique failures in three unique merchants. Two vending machines (a ticket vending machine is still a vending machine)
Eh, I'm not sure vending machines are any more or less likely to fail than other places. I seem to remember not having problems with the ones at work, for example.
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Old Mar 12, 2018, 8:01 pm
  #3630  
 
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Originally Posted by tmiw
Eh, I'm not sure vending machines are any more or less likely to fail than other places. I seem to remember not having problems with the ones at work, for example.
I've always had more issues at vending machines than other types of terminals - even in Canada where contactless vending machines are ubiquitous. (They are slowly fixing them in Canada but still have issues).
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