The $69 billion, Vienna, Va.-based Navy Federal Credit Union has rolled out Android Pay as a mobile payments option, making it one of the first financial institutions, and the only credit union, to add the service to its mobile offerings, the credit union said.
Navy Federal, which has nearly six million members worldwide, said almost one million of its members are active Android users, and approximately 90% of those members will have the option to use the mobile service.
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Android Pay, which Google Inc. said would replace Google Wallet back in May, kicked off in the U.S. on Thursday in more than one million locations.
“We have a large member population that generates 70 million debit card transactions per month and we saw more than $1.2 billion in credit card sales in August alone,” Meghan Gound, assistant vice president, digital communications for Navy Federal, said. “Android Pay makes sense for our members because we know they adopt mobile technology and are using their debit and credit cards to make transactions.”
Navy Federal said Android Pay gives members an alternate mobile payment option and a simple, secure choice when paying for items with their mobile phones. Android Pay is also a seamless way to pay in-store on near field communication-enabled devices running on KitKat 4.4 version or higher, the credit union said. The service is free for Navy Federal debit and credit cardholders.
“Offering digital services, like Android Pay, adds to our mobile payment options for our global membership made up of active duty military and their families who are more on-the-move than the average user,” Gound said. “It's another convenience we're happy to be able to provide.”
Android Pay, Google's second major mobile wallet effort, will be available on most NFC-enabled Android phones running on the Android 4.4 KitKat system or above within the next week. The service allows users to store their credit and debit cards on their smartphones, and use their smartphone's NFC chip to simply tap and pay at any location equipped to handle the payment method. Initially, the service will only be available within the U.S.
Users with Google Wallet installed on their devices will receive an update that allows them to transform the Google Wallet app into Android Pay. Google has re-released Google Wallet as a separate app focused strictly on P2P payments, similar to the apps Square Cash and Venmo. Loyalty programs, gift cards and other offers that users previously stored in Google Wallet will automatically shift over to Android Pay.
Android Pay will support cards from the four major payment networks (American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa), and will initially support customers of major U.S. financial institutions, including Navy Federal.
Google says that more than one million locations will support Android Pay at launch, including major retailers such as Staples, Whole Foods Market, Walgreens, Office Depot and Toys “R” Us. Users will also be able to store loyalty cards and special offers in the app, and the ability to use Android Pay for in-app purchases will be available later this year.
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Roy Urrico
Roy W. Urrico specializes in articles about financial technology and services for Credit Union Times, as well as ghostwriting, copywriting, and case studies. Also: writer/editor of a semi-annual newsletter for Association for Financial Technology since 1997 and history projects funded by the U.S Interior Department, National Park Service and Warren County (N.Y.).
