Two more credit unions were added to the official Apple Pay list of participating institutions, bringing the total number to four.
The new additions are the $1.8 billion UW Credit Union in Madison, Wis., and the $891 million L&N Federal Credit Union in Louisville, Ky.
Previously the only credit unions active on Apple Pay were the $62 billion Vienna, Va- based Navy Federal and $6.3 billion Riverdale, Utah-based America First Credit Union.
UW is active in Apple Pay both for personal credit cards and debit cards. L&N is active for debit cards only, according to Apple.
UW told CUTimes in an interview that it currently is in a soft launch. It plans a broad launch to its 200,000 members on Dec. 15, David Mickelson, vice president of retail delivery operations said.
He explained that UW pushed hard to get live on Apple Pay for two reasons. First, its core membership revolves around the University of Wisconsin, where demand for mobile payment is high. Second, more than half the credit union's mobile access is via iOS – AKA Apple – devices. “We did not want our members to try to load their UW credit and debit cards (onto Apple Pay) and not be able to,” Mickelson said.
UW worked with large, Atlanta-based card processor First Data to go live. “They did most of the work,” Mickelson said.
Right now, UW members who attempt to activate their cards in Apple Pay will succeed, but Mickelson said the institution is not promoting the availability as it tests out its functionality, the reason behind its soft launch status.
L&N was chartered some 60 years ago to serve employees of L & N Railroad in Louisville. It presently serves some 70,000 members in Kentucky, southern Indiana and Tennessee.
The credit union had not responded to requests for comment at press time.
Industry experts told CU Times they anticipate more credit unions – perhaps several dozen – will go live in Apple Pay before year-end. Most also said hundreds will be live by March 31, 2015.
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