Samsung Pay supports all US retail membership and loyalty cards
Samsung Pay launched in the US in September 2015 and has continued to add new financial institutions and gift card support on a regular basis. Today, Samsung announced that the services now supports all U.S. retail membership and loyalty cards.
As Samsung Pay continues to roll physical cards into its service, my wallet is getting lighter and lighter with future vision of having everything on my phone a possibility. I know that some insurance cards now support Samsung Pay and it seems the final hurdle will be getting driver's licenses into an acceptable electronic format.
If you are like me, you probably have several retail membership and loyalty cards, some in the form of small cards that go on your key chain. My issue is that I don't carry all of those cards so often lose out on gaining any benefits from those cards left at home. Samsung states that the average American household carries almost 30 loyalty cards and if you took a peak in my wife's purse you would see about double that stacked in various pockets.
Nana Murugesan, VP of Strategy and Operations for Samsung Electronics America, states:
With this new feature, Samsung Pay is giving users quick access to their favorite membership and loyalty programs and making shopping even easier. Right now, shoppers have several things-credit and debit cards, membership cards, coupons, gift cards-they need to take out of their wallets and scan at the register. Samsung is simplifying the checkout experience by bringing those items to your phone, representing our next step toward a world without physical wallets.
Samsung Pay is a fantastic mobile payment system in large part because of its magnetic secure transmission (MST) functionality that lets you use the service wherever a card can be swiped in a payment terminal. I love pulling out my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge to pay for things at stores where the clerk tells me Apple Pay or Android Pay is not supported.
There are a vast number of financial institutions that support Samsung Pay, but USAA Federal Savings Bank is not yet one of them. I have to use my backup Bank of America credit card for Samsung Pay transactions.