USAA Rolls Out Samsung Pay For Visa Credit, Debit Cardholders

USAA Bank announced last week it introduced Samsung Pay for its Visa credit and debit cardholders.

In a press release, USAA said the move is part of an expansion of its mobile payment services that started this fall.

“We’re excited to provide our members access to pay almost anywhere with Samsung Pay,” said Kiyanna Garland, mobile payments lead for USAA, in the press release. “We already have Apple Pay and Android Pay. Samsung Pay is the next step forward.”

With Samsung Pay, customers have more mobile payment options given Samsung Pay is accepted at merchants around the world, almost anywhere consumers can swipe or tap a card. “Special terminals are not necessary, and it doesn’t require the merchant to do anything differently from what they have in place today,” Garland noted.

According to USAA, the addition of Samsung Pay was due to member demand, with Garland saying the team reviewed many comments from members requesting Samsung Pay. Unveiled in Sept. 2015, Samsung Pay has generated nearly 100 million transactions in seven countries. USAA also will expand its Android Pay service to include USAA Visa debit cards, which has not been an option. “As payment technologies evolve, we’re committed to keeping our members on the cutting edge,” Garland said.

USAA’s addition of Samsung Pay comes at a time when Samsung Electronics is reeling from an embarrassing recall of its latest smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7. The end of production of that device, after reports the battery can overheat and catch on fire, will cost Samsung Electronics billions of dollars. While it’s not clear what impact it will have on sales of its other smartphones, it doesn’t seem to be hurting adoption of its mobile payment service as of yet.