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 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
USA contactless credit/debit/transit (2017 - 2021)
#6241
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,508
Do you know if gas pumps are exempt from this due to the liability shift not happening until October 2020? There are several stations near me with contactless enabled (at least for cards if not phones), but still without EMV being turned on. If this happens, then it seems that the stations will be forced to disable contactless entirely until they roll out EMV (which seems to be taking quite a long time, even with the proper hardware in place).
#6242
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,723
These Radiant c-stores seem to have a lot of problems with Contactless.
Tried with Wawa in-store (pump worked fine...). Clerk insisted I must "insert the chip." I asked him for tap. "No you must insert the chip." All he could say. I gave up and did that. The pinpad did a Quick Chip function then I heard him press two keys on the regsister to make the card process. I suspect had he done that before I inserted my card, the NFC would have turned on.
Sheetz was very weird. The pinpad shows the four dots and green light the whole time. But if you tap as the cashier is scanning it keeps saying "CVV2 ERROR." But the cashiers there seem to be trained to go straight to electronic payment screen when they are at the end of the transaction so then the proper screen came up and the NFC worked fine; EMV Contactless as expected.
Sunoco A-Plus (7-Eleven) and Royal Farms both seemed to go straight to the "electronic payment" screen and again the NFC worked fine as EMV Contactless.
Turkey Hill (Kroger) told me there is no electronic payment screen and the only options on his screen were "cash" "gift card" and "food stamp." At that one I inserted my card and it was kind of strange because he did not touch the register after that, until after I was done dealing with the signature prompt that came up for my $1.05 transaction.
At least none of them have a zip code prompt in the middle like some of those Circle Ks do. What a mess that is.
Tried with Wawa in-store (pump worked fine...). Clerk insisted I must "insert the chip." I asked him for tap. "No you must insert the chip." All he could say. I gave up and did that. The pinpad did a Quick Chip function then I heard him press two keys on the regsister to make the card process. I suspect had he done that before I inserted my card, the NFC would have turned on.
Sheetz was very weird. The pinpad shows the four dots and green light the whole time. But if you tap as the cashier is scanning it keeps saying "CVV2 ERROR." But the cashiers there seem to be trained to go straight to electronic payment screen when they are at the end of the transaction so then the proper screen came up and the NFC worked fine; EMV Contactless as expected.
Sunoco A-Plus (7-Eleven) and Royal Farms both seemed to go straight to the "electronic payment" screen and again the NFC worked fine as EMV Contactless.
Turkey Hill (Kroger) told me there is no electronic payment screen and the only options on his screen were "cash" "gift card" and "food stamp." At that one I inserted my card and it was kind of strange because he did not touch the register after that, until after I was done dealing with the signature prompt that came up for my $1.05 transaction.
At least none of them have a zip code prompt in the middle like some of those Circle Ks do. What a mess that is.
#6243
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Window Seat
Programs: National Executive, HHonors Gold, IHG Platinum, Hyatt Visitor
Posts: 2,495
Well the early builds had actual issues with the contactless working at some registers and now you have to argue with the cashier to get it to work. That WAWA cashier is full of crap for sure it does indeed work and I'd complain to WAWA on Twitter if that happened to me. Also Sheetz Radiant is configured just like Kum & Go's it always shows the dots too and won't go through until that button is hit and they also hit that button without issues. The Turkey Hill cashier is also stupid and we both know its works(although some registers may not work yet) but they received zero training on it and they normally don't press the button on a chip transaction. Hopefully it will get better with time as it was like that at Kum & Go at first too. Yeah that is true I noticed that Circle K unbranded last year and I was like what in the world. I wonder if Circle K Radiant ever enabled EMV contactless?
So it seems like at Royal Farms and Sheetz they are trained to go to this "electronic payment" screen as soon as they complete the transaction. But at the former Kroger c-stores they are trained to do nothing... and it appears same at Wawa.
Reminds me of a grocery store in my area. For years they kept asking "debit or credit." Then they would go to "payment menu" then select debit or credit on their NCR registers. They had a button on their register that said "EFT" but only at one location of the chain did the employees catch on to the fact that button was the multi-function debit/credit button. It wasn't until they got the chip upgrade that they finally got all of the locations to understand what the "EFT" button was. Then they sold most of their stores a few months after that.
#6244
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,139
These Radiant c-stores seem to have a lot of problems with Contactless.
Tried with Wawa in-store (pump worked fine...). Clerk insisted I must "insert the chip." I asked him for tap. "No you must insert the chip." All he could say. I gave up and did that. The pinpad did a Quick Chip function then I heard him press two keys on the regsister to make the card process. I suspect had he done that before I inserted my card, the NFC would have turned on.
Tried with Wawa in-store (pump worked fine...). Clerk insisted I must "insert the chip." I asked him for tap. "No you must insert the chip." All he could say. I gave up and did that. The pinpad did a Quick Chip function then I heard him press two keys on the regsister to make the card process. I suspect had he done that before I inserted my card, the NFC would have turned on.
#6246
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New York
Programs: UA Silver, Marriott LTPP, Hertz Five Star
Posts: 1,079
Anyone know if the Freedompay units run by EWR Terminal C support EMV contactless? (They're used in certain shops like Cibo Express with the cash registers that are NCR SelfServ based and accept cash rather than just credit/debit like the iPads).
Tried to use my Chase MilagePlus visa to pay (PINPad asked for tap) - generated an error and then the prompt went solely to insert or swipe card (removing the offer for tap).
Think it may have occurred due to the Visa mandate against MSD contactless, but unsure...
Tried to use my Chase MilagePlus visa to pay (PINPad asked for tap) - generated an error and then the prompt went solely to insert or swipe card (removing the offer for tap).
Think it may have occurred due to the Visa mandate against MSD contactless, but unsure...
#6247
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: *G^2, Bonvoyed, NEXUS
Posts: 3,523
Anyone know if the Freedompay units run by EWR Terminal C support EMV contactless? (They're used in certain shops like Cibo Express with the cash registers that are NCR SelfServ based and accept cash rather than just credit/debit like the iPads).
Tried to use my Chase MilagePlus visa to pay (PINPad asked for tap) - generated an error and then the prompt went solely to insert or swipe card (removing the offer for tap).
Think it may have occurred due to the Visa mandate against MSD contactless, but unsure...
Tried to use my Chase MilagePlus visa to pay (PINPad asked for tap) - generated an error and then the prompt went solely to insert or swipe card (removing the offer for tap).
Think it may have occurred due to the Visa mandate against MSD contactless, but unsure...
#6248
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,508
Has anyone had issues at Sprouts recently? The terminal didn't respond to my Chase Freedom card at all today and I had to insert.
Also, it looks like "11 of the top 25 issuers" will be issuing contactless cards: https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere...714409720.html
Also, it looks like "11 of the top 25 issuers" will be issuing contactless cards: https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere...714409720.html
#6249
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Window Seat
Programs: National Executive, HHonors Gold, IHG Platinum, Hyatt Visitor
Posts: 2,495
The site I went to was a bit older, probably 10-15 years old. Maybe newer locations have something else.
#6250
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Window Seat
Programs: National Executive, HHonors Gold, IHG Platinum, Hyatt Visitor
Posts: 2,495
Has anyone had issues at Sprouts recently? The terminal didn't respond to my Chase Freedom card at all today and I had to insert.
Also, it looks like "11 of the top 25 issuers" will be issuing contactless cards: https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere...714409720.html
Also, it looks like "11 of the top 25 issuers" will be issuing contactless cards: https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere...714409720.html
#6251
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,508
#6253
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
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#6254
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: *G^2, Bonvoyed, NEXUS
Posts: 3,523
iOS 12.3 now supports Express Transit mode for EMV cards. TfL doesnt currently support it but Im guessing they will soon. And NYC MTA will undoubtedly support this