Big banks are reportedly unhappy with fees associated with Apple Pay transactions, and have asked Visa to eliminate them, a report says on Tuesday (via WSJ).
Apple Pay Fees
The report says that banks such as Capital One, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase have “grown unhappy with the costs” of Apple Pay. Currently, every time a person uses Apple Pay banks must pay Apple a fee for every transaction. In the U.S. this is 0.15% for purchases made with a credit card and an estimated $0.23 to $0.57 for debit cards.
The banks are asking Visa to change the way it handles these transactions. One proposal would be to eliminate the fees for “recurring automated payments” like subscriptions. Banks would only pay Apple for the first recurring transaction.
When consumers load their credit card onto Apple Pay, Visa issues a special token that replaces the card number. That allows the card to work on Apple Pay and also helps keep the card secure in a potential data breach, among other benefits.
Visa plans to start using a different token on recurring automated payments. That effectively means that after a first payment is made on a subscription, Apple won’t get fees on the following transactions.
Visa and Apple are in discussion about the proposed change, and Apple understandably opposes the move.