# Chase Amtrak Card and Apple Pay



## Mike S. (Mar 4, 2015)

For some reason, Chase is not supporting Apple Pay with their Mastercards, only Visa. Other banks with Mastercard support Apple Pay. I've called Chase and logged in some comments. The truth is that I'm using my Apple Pay cards more and more now.

Thoughts? Anyone else interested in calling to drum up support?

Mike S.


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## CHamilton (Mar 4, 2015)

Mike, Chase is apparently discontinuing most or all of its Mastercards and switching them to Visa. My Chase Freedom Mastercard was recently switched to a Visa card with a chip, so I wouldn't be surprised if yours changes as well.


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## PerRock (Mar 4, 2015)

Probably because Chase is partnered with Softcard (formerly ISIS, becoming Google) for mobile payment systems. Google recently bought Softcard, so things might change then, but I doubt it.

Peter


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## jis (Mar 4, 2015)

PerRock said:


> Probably because Chase is partnered with Softcard (formerly ISIS, becoming Google) for mobile payment systems. Google recently bought Softcard, so things might change then, but I doubt it.
> 
> Peter


Well, if Chase is not going to work with Apple Pay, they will have one less customer, both for their credit cards and their bank  I have already mentioned this to my Chase bank contact, who regularly keeps in touch with me considering the amount of business I do with them I suppose.


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## Ryan (Mar 4, 2015)

Chase does work with Apple Pay, I use my Sapphire Preferred Visa with it all the time.

It's just the Mastercards that aren't supported now, and that's likely due to a transition to Visa for all of their cards.


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## PerRock (Mar 4, 2015)

Ok so I did a little research (I already knew Chase was an Softcard partner). It turns out that for ApplePay the brand specific cards (so rewards cards) the partnership has to be from the brand, not the bank. Regular Chase cards & some branded cards already work with ApplePay. If you want AGR to work with ApplePay, you need to talk to AGR.

Alternatively you can use _any_ Credit/Debit card with Google Wallet (of course you need an Android device), no need to wait for banks to sign up with them. The rest of the purchasing process is essentially the same (Apple you use your fingerprint, Google you punch in a 4-digit pin).

peter


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## jis (Mar 4, 2015)

PerRock said:


> Ok so I did a little research (I already knew Chase was an Softcard partner). It turns out that for ApplePay the brand specific cards (so rewards cards) the partnership has to be from the brand, not the bank. Regular Chase cards & some branded cards already work with ApplePay. If you want AGR to work with ApplePay, you need to talk to AGR.
> 
> Alternatively you can use _any_ Credit/Debit card with Google Wallet (of course you need an Android device), no need to wait for banks to sign up with them. The rest of the purchasing process is essentially the same (Apple you use your fingerprint, Google you punch in a 4-digit pin).
> 
> peter


For me having to use 4 digit PIN each time is a significant turnoff. So I would not be using Google wallet anytime soon. There is a big difference between just holding the device in a specific way, and remembering and entering PINs each time.
I know I can use ApplePay with some Chase cards. I just wanted to let me bank guy know that it would not be acceptable to me for Chase to do something like what CVS is doing. He has assured me that Chase has no plan to go that route.

Given that my use of Amtrak is likely to go down exponentially ( I will be lucky to make Select this year), I am also finding myself using the AGR Card less and less, partly because of no ApplePay too. Oh well.

I find that overall Amex is the best of the lot, with Visa trying to catch up. That is the current state. Of course things could change over time.


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## CHamilton (Mar 4, 2015)

jis said:


> I find that overall Amex is the best of the lot, with Visa trying to catch up. That is the current state. Of course things could change over time.


It will be interesting to see whether the recent deal between Citi, Visa and Costco changes that.


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## jis (Mar 4, 2015)

I have never had anything to do with Costco or Amex in the context of Costco, having never ever set foot in a costco or visited their web site. All my interaction with Amex has been either directly with Amex (Platinum Card with chip), or via the Hilton Honors Gold Amex card, or the Corporate Amex Card provided to me by my employer. I don't really expect any of that to change as a result of whatever Costco does with Citi or Visa.

Incidentally I have not had much complaints about the Chase Presidential Plus Mastercard from United. This is a grandfathered card with grandfathered benefits that came from Continental and is still maintained by United. You cannot get one these cards anymore.


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## CHamilton (Mar 4, 2015)

I have also had good results with the Platinum Amex that is our company credit card, and the gold Amex that is my personal card. Both now have chips, and both worked well in Canada during my last trip. I don't have a Costco Amex either.

Of course, all banks are evil  but better the devil you know. I'm reminded of the immortal Cheryl Wheeler song "We're the bank, we're not your friend."


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## Anderson (Mar 5, 2015)

If Chase is switching over to Visa, any thoughts on the AGR card's future?


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## Railroad Bill (Mar 5, 2015)

Anderson said:


> If Chase is switching over to Visa, any thoughts on the AGR card's future?


Yes, if this non fee card goes by the wayside AGR may lose some customers who do not want to pay bank fees. We have the Sapphire Card but with that card also reducing some of its benefits as well, it may be decision making time in the near future.


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## PRR 60 (Mar 5, 2015)

My biggest issue with Apple Pay is the lack of merchant acceptance. The banks seem enthusiastic about it because, at least in theory, it reduces fraud. They are happy to pay 0.15% to Apple for that benefit. It also keeps the credit card system intact which keeps them collecting a fee for each and every transaction. However, I have been able to use Apple Pay about five times in six months. None of our usual merchants take it. So, while I really like it, it just is not that useful to me at the moment.

One cool thing I was able to do on a recent trip was to pay a restaurant check using Apple Pay through the Open Table app. We made our dinner reservation on Open Table as usual. Once in the restaurant and seated, the app recognized us being there and alerted us and our server that we had the capability to pay through the app. We confirmed that with our server, and from that point forward we could see our bill in the app as items were ordered. When finished, we brought up the final tab in the app, added an appropriate tip, and paid using Apple Pay. The server was notified that we had paid-in-full, and a copy of the bill including tip was sent to us by email. Very sleek, and very cool.


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## Ryan (Mar 5, 2015)

That's pretty cool.

We grocery shop at Wegmans, and I'll eat at McDonalds and Subway so it gets used fairly frequently.

Also, the Wawa around the corner has gas pumps that take it, so that's solidified its place as my go to gas station.


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## jis (Mar 5, 2015)

Yes, I have actually changed the set of places that get my business based on whether they accept Apple Pay or not. Fortunately many of the places that I already went to accept Apple Pay, so it was not that big a change.

I think it has more to do with who accepts NFC payment at all more than whether they accept Apple Pay or not as far as I can tell. I have not come across too many places that accept NFC payment and selectively block just Apple Pay. OTOH CVS stopped accepting any NFC payment just so that they don't have to accept Apple Pay.... go figure!

In general, as some of us have noticed, US is a relatively backward country when it comes to using electronic payments in a secure fashion, ..., still trying to get upto Chip and PIN on credit cards for example.


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## Ryan (Mar 5, 2015)

Yeah, forgot that one - ditched CVS and Rite Aid and moved my prescription to Walgreens for that reason. CurrentC sounds like a hot mess.


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## Devil's Advocate (Mar 5, 2015)

If Apple Pay came with higher prices I'd be fine with it. Let the Apple cult pay for it rather than passing along the Apple tax to everyone. Reminds me of the iBooks conspiracy.


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## jis (Mar 5, 2015)

Yup, cash payment should always be cheaper than anything else. Why just pick on Apple?  Of course never mind that it actually costs the economy more to push cash around than bits of payment information around. But that is a cost traditionally borne by the commons anyway, and does not appear as a line item on any accounting, so it does not exist.


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## Railroad Bill (Mar 5, 2015)

Looks like the world is going to force me to buy an smartphone. But for those who cannot afford the high tech world, a very disappointing situation for society. Life goes on I guess.. :unsure:


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## Ryan (Mar 5, 2015)

There's nothing that says you can't keep on using cash or a card.


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## PerRock (Mar 5, 2015)

Railroad Bill said:


> Looks like the world is going to force me to buy an smartphone. But for those who cannot afford the high tech world, a very disappointing situation for society. Life goes on I guess.. :unsure:





RyanS said:


> There's nothing that says you can't keep on using cash or a card.


NFC transactions are uncommon enough that you aren't going to have to get an NFC-capable smartphone in your lifetime. The majority of machines also accept regular Credit & Debit cards, and if they don't the buiz usually has an card machine (or one of those really old impress-roller machines that you can pay with.

The force which you will experience (and within the next year or so) is the switch to EMV cards (chip & pin) rather then the current magnetic strip cards. But it will just be a new card that your bank will ship to you (probably when your current one expires)

peter


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## printman2000 (Mar 8, 2015)

I wish walmart would take Applepay. Does not look they will. They seem to want to work on their own system.


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## Ryan (Mar 8, 2015)

Yes, they're one of the ringleaders of the doomed to fail CurrenC fiasco. They're trying desperately to cut out having to pay credit card fees.

Just makes it even easier for me to not shop there.


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## jis (Mar 8, 2015)

They could try to get someone with a semblance of technical competence, just enough to understand that CurrenC is a non starter after people have experienced Google Wallet and Apple Pay.


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## printman2000 (Mar 8, 2015)

Living where I do, it would be hard to stop shopping at Walmart without limiting a lot of choices and paying a lot more.


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## spacecadet (Mar 9, 2015)

I think a lot of people are going to be surprised at how well CurrentC does. I personally don't have a dog in this fight - I own a store and will support whatever customers want to pay with, but personally I want to just keep using my plastic cards. But as a retailer, I know that people care a lot more about shopping at the stores they want to shop at than paying with any particular method. The number of people who are going to stop shopping at Wal-Mart because of CurrentC is not going to be enough to make a dent in their profits. But their savings on the credit card fees surely will make a difference to their bottom line.

If people don't want to pay with CurrentC, they'll pay with cash or physical cards before they start shopping at a different store just to use Apple Pay (or Google Wallet). Of course there will always be exceptions, but not enough to matter.


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## Mike S. (Mar 9, 2015)

Thanks for all the replies.

To bring it back more on topic....we should figure out the fate of the Chase AGR card. If Chase is dumping Mastercard and going to Visa...will they just simply reissue cards? Or will folks reapply? Maybe an opportunity to get a new welcome point bonus.

I forgot who the old car issuer was before Chase but I had that one for a few years. Then when the went to Chase, we were able to score another welcome point bonus (like 25,000 points).

Mike


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## Ryan (Mar 9, 2015)

Yeah, earning a new signup bonus would be nice.


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## VentureForth (Mar 12, 2015)

I had to have my card replaced twice in the past month. First time was because the card ripped in half. Then I lost it. First replacement was exactly the same the first. Second was a new number, but same expiration date of 5/15. Was wondering if that meant anything.

When I got an email from Softcard indicating their closing, I downloaded Google Wallet. I signed up about 6 various debit/credit cards and none work where Softcard worked. Same error: MC Debit not allowed. Only tried on one vending machine so far...


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## Ryan (Mar 12, 2015)

I completely blew my boss away yesterday when we walked into a building at the Hopkins Applied Physics Lab and used my iPhone (and CSP card) to get a soda from a vending machine.


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## PerRock (Mar 12, 2015)

VentureForth said:


> When I got an email from Softcard indicating their closing, I downloaded Google Wallet. I signed up about 6 various debit/credit cards and none work where Softcard worked. Same error: MC Debit not allowed. Only tried on one vending machine so far...


My MC Debit cards work just fine with Google Wallet... I've only had issues adding pre-paid cards into Wallet (those ones you buy in a store for a set amount of money).

peter


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## Devil's Advocate (Mar 13, 2015)

RyanS said:


> I completely blew my boss away yesterday when we walked into a building at the Hopkins Applied Physics Lab and used my iPhone (and CSP card) to get a soda from a vending machine.


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## NW cannonball (Mar 14, 2015)

Well, I think --

This apparent fight amongst the payment systems, VISA vs MC, Google vs Apple, etc.

All the various systems have been skimming a percent or two off every transaction in the world, so it'll be a big fight amongst the banks and VISA, MC.

Even cash, as somebody upthread remarked, has transaction costs (but other advantages) -- hell, you should see my local WF small business fee for counting cash.

It's a fight between banks and credit card companies,

No way to tell how it will turn out.

Probably the banks and CC outfits will have to accept a slightly smaller skimoff - a few hundred billion or so, just to keep competitive.


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## jis (May 28, 2015)

Just had an interesting conversation with the Chase Card Services people, and even though not directly about Amtrak what I heard may have some relevance or not. only time will tell.

Initially I called to ask for replacing the grandfathered from pre-merger Unite Awards Visa Card to a chip card. The agent said oh that is simple he will just send me a replacement card with chip and that was that.

Since he was so straightforward and helpful I decided to push my luck and asked him about the grandfathered pre-merger Continental Presidential Plus Mastercard. To my greatest surprise he told me that I could either get it converted to Visa keeping everything (benefits and bonuses) the same (except the account number) and get a chip card immediately, or I could keep it as a Mastercard and get the chip card in July. I asked him whether I could get the chip card before my trip to Europe in two weeks. He said most certainly. Should have it middle of this coming week. So I took the plunge and asked to get it changed. Now to see what actually happens.

Oh yes, he also said that as soon as I get the Presidential Plus Visa Card I should be able to use it with Apple Pay. I forgot to ask him about Apple Pay and Mastercard.

But I thought that some might want to know about it here.

I wonder if Amtrak is having some issues with changing to Visa or is trying to renew the deal with Chase to keep the Mastercard. Or of course they could be about to change to some other provider too.

It looks and sounds like United is definitely staying with Chase and now have all their cards including all the grandfathered ones covered.

It looks like today was my conversion to Chip day. I converted every card that I have except for the AGR MC which they are unable to convert at present.


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