{"id":6802,"date":"2015-07-30T14:19:37","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T14:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/?p=6802"},"modified":"2024-10-13T17:41:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T17:41:44","slug":"one-major-hsbc-apple-pay-uk-issue-no-one-is-talking-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/one-major-hsbc-apple-pay-uk-issue-no-one-is-talking-about\/","title":{"rendered":"One Major HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neither HSBC, First Direct or Apple\u00a0are talking about this system\u00a0breaking issue. An issue that at worst\u00a0presents\u00a0a security risk, and at best makes it almost impossible for you\u00a0to add a\u00a0Card to Apple Pay UK. Which is why we’re bringing it\u00a0to your attention. You heard it here\u00a0first!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Major HSBC and first direct Apple Pay Issue<\/h2>\n

You were excited. And rightfully so. HSBC \/ first direct finally\u00a0jumped <\/a>on the Apple Pay UK<\/a> bandwagon\u00a0and allowed customers with cards to add them to their\u00a0mobile wallet platform<\/a>: Passbook. And as UK Card holders, both our\u00a0Co-Founders\u00a0were just as elated as you were. So\u00a0they were quick to test it out.\u00a0Which is when they stumbled upon this\u00a0major HSBC \/ first direct Apple Pay issue.
\nYou see, both our Co-Founders have UK HSBC \/ first direct accounts. Both have already successfully\u00a0added other UK cards to Passbook. No problem. But for some reason, these PassKiteers were prevented when it came to HSBC\/ first direct. Their phones would simply not let them add their\u00a0card. You might have also experienced the same problem. Thankfully,\u00a0they were not easily\u00a0swayed. Having\u00a0both worked in the banking sector, and built a successful mobile wallet marketing company, they probed the issue. And what they found out is beyond belief.<\/p>\n

You Can’t Add HSBC \/first direct Cards If You’re Outside The UK<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Whether you’re away for a short business trip, a long holiday, or a new life abroad, HSBC \/ first direct won’t let you add your UK Bank Card to Apple Pay. And\u00a0not even Apple knows why. Trust us. We contacted them. After spending a few hours on the phone with HSBC \/ first direct, talking to supervisor after supervisor, team after team, we were finally told “it’s a problem with the app\u00a0[Passbook]<\/em>” and\u00a0referred to\u00a0Apple Customer Support. And it’s\u00a0where that conversation led that’s\u00a0truly interesting.
\nYou can find out what the issues are\u00a0at the end of this article, but first you’ll want to know what we did to bypass them. From the beginning, here’s what happened (with images):<\/p>\n

We \u00a0added the HSBC \/ first direct Card details to Apple Pay UK<\/h4>\n
\"The<\/a>
The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About – Adding Card<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As expected, we were provided with the Apple Pay UK Terms and Conditions page<\/h4>\n
\"The<\/a>
The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About – T&C<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We accepted them<\/h4>\n
\"The<\/a>
The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About – T&C 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Apple began to add the card<\/h4>\n
\"The<\/a>
The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About – Adding<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We were denied. And told to contact the UK Card provider – HSBC \/ First Direct.<\/h4>\n
\"The<\/a>
The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About – Fail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And so we\u00a0contacted HSBC \/ first direct. Spoke to several supervisors. Several teams. For several hours. Until we finally got an Apple number. Apple said there was nothing wrong on their side that they could see. We eliminated WiFi and 4G trouble and even went as far as to reset the network settings. Beyond that, they had no further\u00a0suggestions on how to solve\u00a0the issues.\u00a0Back to square one. Which is why\u00a0we decided to play detective.
\nBeing British, we were\u00a0instantly inspired by Sherlock Holmes, who said “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth”. <\/em>After a few hours of contemplating the impossible (Apple Pay service issues, HSBC’s lack of customer support,\u00a0Aliens)\u00a0we were\u00a0left with three\u00a0improbabilities.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Our iTunes account was registered in Hong Kong.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. We were not in the UK. Both co-founders were in Hong Kong. The iPhone knew this as it tracked location data.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. The\u00a0phone’s IP address was not\u00a0of UK origin. Again, we were in Hong Kong.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We instantly ruled out improbability number 1 as we had already added a UK MBNA Card<\/a> to Apple’s Passbook. So it could only be the other two. And the result of testing (across several iPhones) was astounding. Here’s the two simple steps we completed to\u00a0get HSBC \/ first direct Cards into a UK Apple Pay account from outside the UK.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    We turned off our Apple\u00a0location\u00a0services<\/h4>\n
    \"The<\/a>
    The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About – Location Services<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
    \"The<\/a>
    The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About – Location Services Off<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    We selected\u00a0a UK VPN<\/h4>\n
    \"The<\/a>
    The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About – UK VPN<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
    \"The<\/a>
    The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About – UK VPN On<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    It worked.<\/h3>\n
    \"The<\/a>
    The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About – Card Verification<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
    \"The<\/a>
    The HSBC Apple Pay UK Issue No One Is Talking About – Cards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    For some unknown reason\u00a0HSBC \/ first direct are adding an\u00a0unnecessary\u00a0step to Apple Pay UK that prevents anyone outside of the UK from adding cards.<\/strong>\u00a0Someone high up (or possible very low, by mistake) has decided to add a system breaking step to Apple Pay UK and Passbook card authentication that wont let you add anything unless you are in the UK. Which is unlike\u00a0every other bank in the UK working with\u00a0Apple Pay<\/strong>. And you can trust us again on that as we easily added an MBNA Card earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

    WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS HSBC APPLE PAY UK ISSUE?<\/h3>\n

    We can’t be the only ones unable to do this. There must be others. Has it happened to you? All we do know for sure is that for us, getting a card in while outside of the UK is a pain – but still possible. The issue is both the Banks and Apple blamed each other, claiming the problem was on the other’s side. They were unable to help<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0We found out on our own. And we think you\u00a0need to know.
    \nWhich is why we’re giving\u00a0you\u00a0these three\u00a0steps to follow:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Turn off location\u00a0services<\/li>\n
    2. Set you region to the UK<\/li>\n
    3. Get a UK VPN on your Phone and use that<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      WHY SHOULD ANYONE, ESPECIALLY HSBC \/ first direct CARE?<\/h3>\n

      No. of British living outside of the UK: Australia 1,062,000, USA 829,000, Spain 808,000, Canada 608,000, Ireland 289,000, France 253,000, New Zealand 248,000, South Africa 219,000, Germany 97,000, UAE 65,000. Not to mention that it’s also the peak of the holiday\u00a0season.<\/p>\n

      AND FINALLY<\/h3>\n

      After that fiasco, we feel like true Holmesians<\/a>. And so we shall leave you (and hopefully Apple and HSBC \/ first direct if they are reading this) with one of his most relevant\u00a0quotes:<\/p>\n

      “It is better to learn wisdom late, than never at all” – Sherlock Holmes<\/em><\/h3>\n

      Let us know below if you have the same or similar issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Neither HSBC, First Direct or Apple\u00a0are talking about this system\u00a0breaking issue. An issue that at worst\u00a0presents\u00a0a security risk, and at best makes it almost impossible for you\u00a0to add a\u00a0Card to Apple Pay UK. Which is why we’re bringing it\u00a0to your attention. You heard it here\u00a0first! Major HSBC and first direct Apple Pay Issue You were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,12,15,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-pay","category-apple-wallet","category-blog","category-mobile-wallet-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18241,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6802\/revisions\/18241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}