Apple Pay has had a spate of double charges related to Bank of America cardholders, but apparently it’s not really anyone’s fault.
CNN’s Samuel Burke reported earlier today that he noticed double charges on his Bank of America card.
However, based on information obtained by Bank Innovation from sources within Apple and Bank of America, the problem is only affecting “a small amount of people…around 1000.”
An Apple spokesperson provided Bank Innovation with a comment on the matter:
“Apple Pay is off to an amazing start and customers are loving the easy, secure and private way to pay. We’re aware of a Bank of America issue impacting a very small number of Apple Pay users. They’re working on a fix that will be available shortly and reversing any duplicate transactions.”
Similarly, people with knowledge of the issue say that Apple won’t be able to monitor transaction history and transaction data and customer service will be the responsibility of the banks.
Bank of America is actively working on correcting this as soon as possible and hopes to resolve it by today. A Bank of America spokeswoman told Bank Innovation that they apologize for the inconvenience and that only about very few people were affected.
CNN’s Burke wrote, “It was every consumer’s worst nightmare: customer service for two companies telling you to call the other.” This shouldn’t be happening at all. The customer service teams for the bank and card networks are in charge of…handling customer service.
Here are the only partners that will work with Apple Pay right off the bat. pic.twitter.com/YXhkDI9vVK
— Ian Kar (@iankar_) October 20, 2014
Take my ongoing issue with TD Bank, for example. I’m trying to figure out when TD Bank will let me upload my debit card onto Passbook. The app explains that there are only a few select banks that work with Apple Pay as of now, and for more information, to contact your issuing bank (there is usually a phone number on the back).
Apple won’t be able to actually track what you buy — that will be up to the merchant and banks. Apple will be able to monitor location data, however. This anonymous location data is to help further development of Apple Pay and can be turned off by turning off Location Services, according to an Apple privacy page spotted by Bank Innovation.
An analogy from a source was that, “We’re still using the same train tracks, the same payment rails, but we’re using an Apple bullet train instead of a steam engine (mag-stripe cards).”