I have been using Apple Pay for years now. But now it won’t let me send money without verifying my identity. Which is fine. But why is it asking for my social security number?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 18
What do you mean by “using Apple Pay for years”? Apple Pay is not and has never been a payment method and you simply cannot send money to someone with it. Apple Pay is not a credit card or bank account, it is the contactless NFC technology. You can add credit and debit cards to your Wallet and use tap-to-pay to purchase or pay a bill.
So what app have you been using to send money to someone? The Apple Cash Card is what you use to send money to friends or acquaintances , similar to Venmo and others.
Apple Cash is managed by Green Dot Bank and is subject to their terms and conditions. It is Green Dot Bank that is asking for your SS#, not Apple.
Contact an Apple Cash specialist at Green Dot Bank for help.
This is happening to me as well. The threshold explanation doesn't make any sense as my husband sends far more Apple Cash to our kids than I do and he would have hit that threshold a while ago. I am the only one in our family that cannot leverage Apple Cash to send or fulfill requests. This is a recent development, after using it for years.
For those questioning the validity of this, and declaring Apple would never, this is what is being asked.
My gut feeling is this may not be a strict guideline any longer. It would seem that suspicious activity on an account (by either the account owner or owners customer) will trigger a request for positive identification. This is not a one and done requirement. Positive ID may be required on an account multiple times.
Everyone suspects that if they fail the verification that there’s an error committed by the bank. More than likely, it’s the opposite. They don’t want to close an account on the wrong person. So, they positively verify the ID and if it matches the person being de-banked, the account is closed. In most cases, no one suspects they have violated the T&C or KYC regulations. But truth of matter is they’ve positively identified themselves as the person that owns the account they are closing (de-banking).
“De-banking, banks often refer to it as de-risking. De-banking is the closure of people's or organizations' bank accounts by banks that perceive the account holders to pose a financial, legal, regulatory, or reputational risk to the bank.”
Thanks Mac Jim ID! A few comments to some of your questions and statements, as I understand verification of an account especially upon setting up, but the timing and nature are so seemingly random:
I had previously registered my Apple Cash account when I set up Apple Pay a few years ago, but do understand it may be requested to be verified but for what reason?
The transactions that I cannot complete are for typically <$10, when my kids are asking for money for a snack or to go to lunch. I rarely use it, typically those requests go to my husband.
My husband and I have individual Apple accounts but we are tied together in a family account (not sure if I stated that properly).
I did get a prompt that I would need to verify my account, but it happened randomly one day in response to my kid's Apple Pay request of maybe $8. Once I got to the window that requested the full SSN, I canceled out as I was uncertain why this was being requested and was concerned about the integrity of the prompt.
This isn’t possible. Apple wouldn’t ask for this. There must be something you’re not telling us….
You are correct it is Apple Cash that I was using and now wants my SS#. I totally confused the names there. Thank you for knowing what I meant and clarifying them for me.
I use Apple Cash on a somewhat regular basis. I’ve never been asked for my SSN
Is your SS secure when apple asks for it when you try to use Apple Cash?
Apple won’t let me send $100 without this verification
Why does Apple Pay asking for my Social Security Number?
