Samsung Wallet gets Tap to Transfer in the U.S.

What you need to know

• Samsung's new "Tap to Transfer" feature facilitates direct P2P payments from Samsung Wallet debit cards to recipients' bank accounts.
• It uses NFC, and the feature is compatible with multiple digital wallets (Samsung, Google, Apple) next to physical tap-to-pay debit cards.
• While initially fee-free, a 1.75% transaction fee (minimum $0.25) is expected to apply to the sender in the future.

Having Samsung Wallet is one of the best perks of owning a Galaxy phone. And in the U.S., it's getting even better as the company is finally rolling out the new Tap to Transfer feature.

The new feature's aim is to make peer-to-peer (P2P) payments “quick and convenient” in the U.S. While the company announced the feature early this month, the feature is now broadly rolling out this week.

Samsung has collaborated with Visa and Mastercard, with which users will be able to use a debit card that is already stored in Samsung Wallet to send money to friends and family — straight into their bank accounts. It works by the NFC tech utilized by Samsung Wallet that swiftly connects to the recipient’s debit card stored in their respective digital wallets — be it Samsung Wallet, Google Wallet, and even Apple Wallet for that matter.

Additionally, the new Tap to Transfer feature also works with recipients who have their physical debit card, which supports tap-to-pay capabilities — as it will have a connecting chip, which can be used by Samsung Wallet similar to what users pay at a retail store.

Another important thing to remember is that Samsung Wallet wouldn’t charge any fees for the Tap to Transfer feature. The FAQ page on the website, however, mentions that “a 1.75% fee (minimum of $0.25) is applied to each transaction. The fee only applies to the sender.”

Other than the new Tap to Transfer, Samsung Wallet is the go-to application for Galaxy phone users as they can store essential things like driver’s license, credit cards, passes, gym membership cards, loyalty and boarding passes, and gift cards, and more. Some college students can even store their student ID cards as well.

It is encouraging to see Samsung bringing interesting features to its Wallet app as users won’t have to rely on third-party apps for money transfer at least in the U.S. for now, and we hope the feature expands to even more countries soon.

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