American payment services company Western Union announced on Tuesday that it now accepts Apple Pay as a way for customers to make money transfers and bill payments in the United States. iPhone users will be able to make NFC-based payments using their smartphones at Western Union's flagship locations and at kiosks in over 7,600 Walgreens and Duane Reade locations nationwide.
Apple Pay support was launched at Western Union's iconic 1440 Broadway store in New York City and will be rolled out to other agent locations in the near future. The company operates over 65,000 agent locations across the United States, Canada and Mexico, processing over 242 million consumer-to-consumer transactions and moving over $82 billion in principal between customers in 2013.
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“Our customers have an expectation of using mobile technology to make money transfer service and product accessibility easier. Western Union is rising to the occasion as we harness our system with modifications to link cash and digital transfers between retail locations, mobile phones, prepaid cards, online and traditional bank accounts and ATMs,” said David Thompson, Executive Vice President, Global Operations and Technology and Chief Information Officer.
USA Technologies, a provider of mobile payment technologies for small-ticket, self-serve retailing industries, also announced today that it is rolling out Apple Pay support in the United States. The move makes Apple Pay available at over 200,000 acceptance points that rely on the company's payment solutions, such as coffee shops, vending machines, kiosks, laundry equipment, parking pay stations and other self-serve appliances.
Top Rated Comments
I don't see why Google would be behind it if they were there before Apple pay. It's in their best interest for NFC to be accepted since their Google Wallet relies on it as much as Apple Pay.
That is so riduculous as to make this funny. Either Google or CurrentC is behind this. LOL
Obviously like handing over cash in person, if the receiver is a crook then you'll find it hard to get your money back. That's not Western Union's fault. Don't hand over cash to strangers.
(I once noticed a random seller on eBay who put in bold letters that he wouldn't accept payment through Western Union. How clueless).
No, there are a lot of imigrants that use this service to send money back to their families in their home country. They pay a steep price to Western Union to do this and most of them probably cannot afford an iPhone or have a bank card to link Apple Pay to.
Still, I am sure there will be a group of iphone users that will want to leverage Apple Pay at Western Union.