Android Pay, after adding 60 new banks on June 26th, has added yet another 72 to the count late last week. That brings the total of supported banks, Credit Unions and financial institutions to well over 800 here in the United States. The new banks, like those from the last several updates, are mostly regional, state and local banks that are bringing support for the tap-to-pay service to their customers.
In fact, in this latest round of updates, some 41 new Credit Unions are added to the list.
The addition of these banks and Credit Unions means that it is increasingly likely that you can use Android Pay with your phone. If you aren’t familiar with it, Android Pay is a free app and as long as your phone has NFC, you can use it to pay at terminals in retailers around the country. It’s secure and encrypted with your real credit card or debit card number not transmitted and because your number is not displayed or your card touched by any physical device, it is very hard to skim your number. It is safer than pulling your credit card out of your wallet.
Go to the Android Pay site for more details on how it works and the full list of supported financial institutions.
Remember too that if you see a location that supports Apple Pay, they also support Android Pay (and likely don’t even know it). The technology used by both services is identical.
