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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 Jun 10, 2019, 2:18 pm
  #6421  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Originally Posted by tmiw
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.)
I figured it was training too. They're trained to insert the card to activate the terminal, rather than pressing Sale or similar. Similar to the early days of EMV in the US where people thought you had to swipe first, then insert when prompted.
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Old Jun 10, 2019, 2:33 pm
  #6422  
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Originally Posted by Hawaiian717
I figured it was training too. They're trained to insert the card to activate the terminal, rather than pressing Sale or similar. Similar to the early days of EMV in the US where people thought you had to swipe first, then insert when prompted.
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.
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Old Jun 10, 2019, 10:02 pm
  #6423  
 
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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).
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Old Jun 10, 2019, 10:04 pm
  #6424  
 
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Originally Posted by RedLight2015
Does the little green LED display still show anything on the Turnstile when you tap? What about the farebox on the bus? I know the regular turnstile beeps are still present as well as the beeps from the OMNY reader itself.
Got a slightly better look tonight, nothing was on the LCD screen on the subway turnstile when I went through.
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Old Jun 10, 2019, 11:43 pm
  #6425  
 
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Looks like HMart fixed their contactless. The "Contactless works with Samsung Pay only!" stickers are now gone, and my Amex worked with Apple Pay.
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 2:59 pm
  #6426  
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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:Maybe I can try disabling location permissions for the app to see if it still lets me use it. The "location" settings in the app just redirect me to the general Android app settings area, FWIW (and there aren't any specific "hidden" settings related to it).
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 3:34 pm
  #6427  
 
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BOA's contactless and FAQ page is now available: https://promo.bankofamerica.com/taptopay/
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 3:46 pm
  #6428  
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Originally Posted by ateng
BOA's contactless and FAQ page is now available: https://promo.bankofamerica.com/taptopay/
It sounds like PIN for larger transactions may be possible overseas based on the FAQ but that may depend on whether the terminal will allow signature for large value contactless. ^

Too bad they're still not publicly available for people not in NYC and SF.
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 4:02 pm
  #6429  
 
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Originally Posted by tmiw
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
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.
At least the gas station and pharmacy pins are in the right place.
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 4:31 pm
  #6430  
 
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Originally Posted by Hawaiian717
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.
At least the gas station and pharmacy pins are in the right place.
Map corrections submitted, pending approval.
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 6:27 pm
  #6431  
 
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Originally Posted by diburning
Looks like HMart fixed their contactless. The "Contactless works with Samsung Pay only!" stickers are now gone, and my Amex worked with Apple Pay.
It just opened a week ago, I tried to go there but it was a mad house and I left.
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
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 7:05 pm
  #6432  
 
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Originally Posted by diburning
Looks like HMart fixed their contactless. The "Contactless works with Samsung Pay only!" stickers are now gone, and my Amex worked with Apple Pay.
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
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 7:40 pm
  #6433  
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Originally Posted by HotelHacker
It just opened a week ago, I tried to go there but it was a mad house and I left.
Just thought, maybe you are talking about somewhere else? An international grocery opened up here with the same name.
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).
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 11:27 pm
  #6434  
 
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Originally Posted by diburning
Looks like HMart fixed their contactless. The "Contactless works with Samsung Pay only!" stickers are now gone, and my Amex worked with Apple Pay.
HMart in Vancouver, Canada uses some weird system similar to the OR/WA Stores (not IBM). They have signage all over checkout stating $5 minimum purchase for credit card transactions and if their produce sale sign says 2/ some amount, you have to buy 2 to get that price (single unit pricing is posted nowhere).

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...
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Old Jun 11, 2019, 11:39 pm
  #6435  
 
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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.
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