Fitbit Pay UK availability

[SunsetRunner]

Why am I unable to add a card to my Fitbit Pay wallet?

Is Fitbit Pay not available in the UK yet?

Thanks.

[Pip0]

Hi - im not sure Danske would offer a standalone credit card.  As a new customer it poses a big potential liability. I know they withdrew their visa credit a few years ago and I got my Mastercard when I opened my current account.


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[Dubebug]

Thanks. It’s all a total joke FITBIT have missold this product to UK residents and are doing nothing about it, just so disappointing 

[Dubebug]

Fitbit mislead UK residents and missold this product so disappointing 

[Narcissus]

In the time it's taken fitbit to go from no UK banks at all, to two obscure banks I'm looking for a replacement. Because of the ill feeling I carry for the overpriced product I bought from fitbit I will not be buying from them, I'm looking elsewhere. Fitbit may pull their finger out of their a*se sometime soon I don't know, chances are they don't even care; they have my cash.

 I'm disappointed on a number of fronts; when I bought my Ionic it was £300; it's already £240, the bank thing still doesn't jive, I get connectivity issues with updates and the "Gorilla Glass" that adorns the watchface has a scratch; despite me going to great lengths to protect it.

Fitbit sucks a*s.

With the exception of i-watch, anyone have a recommendation for a good alternative?

[legar21]

Really need more than 2 banks (which are not mainstream) signed up to Fitbit Pay in the UK, otherwise this feature is redundant. What about NatWest, Nationwide, HSBC, etc? Can we get some votes for expanding the range of Banks in the UK, otherwise Fitbit will not consider it

[SunsetRunner]

Actually, I’ve switched to Starling. Yes, initially because they were the only bank supported by Fitbit Pay, but I like the way they operate and they are properly licenced and regulated, so my money is safe. The “traditional” banks are a bit behind the times and rely on people’s lethargy and resistance to change, so keeping their customer base and thus income.

[legar21]

Thanks appreciate the feedback. The fact that banks have signed up to other watch brands form of payment, we can only hope that Fitbit convince them to join their Fitbit Pay. Ideally I do not to create multiple accounts just for this, as it just introduces more risk for me as a consumer.....

[soccersnaps]

Not a question but an observation that others in the UK may wish to hear

Ive been really lucky with my Ionic, its performed faultlessly since new including firmware updates. However the one feature i wanted to use was fitbit pay here in the uk and theres only 2 banks supported.

So last Wednesday evening i bit the bullet and opened an account online with Starling bank, the process is very easy and the card is a Mastercard. I transferred some money into the account and the card arrived Friday morning. i used the watch Friday evening to buy a train ticket, drinks in the pub and it worked perfectly.   The account is opened via an app from the app store.

I had never heard of Starling before looking at a link here for supporting banks, but my experience has been a good one and i would recommend them if you want to use fitbit pay here in the UK or abroad.

[SunsetRunner]

Yep, been using it almost as long as it’s been available on the Ionic. Impressed with Starling and now use it as my main banking account and it works great in tandem with my Ionic.

[soccersnaps]

ive only loaded a small amount of money to my account so far but i can see this becoming a really great feature to use on the watch.  Ive read one or two posts here where people have said they may return their ionics because of having to open a new account for fitbit pay to work, im happy i went to starling....and that card packaging ha....good stuff

[burs]

Hi,

I bought the ionic for two main reasons - built in GPS and cardless payments. Nearly 4 months on, and despite the website saying “new banks are being added all the time” there is still only support for two obscure MasterCard cards in the UK. What’s going on? The USA bank list is lengthy including AMEX and all the banks you’d expect. But virtually nothing in the UK? I feel like I have been deceived on the availability of this feature. When will this be fixed?

thanks,

Glen. 

[Leascan]

Defo same here bought for that as a main reason and noonw even uses those banks  we need halifax . Hsbc god even virgin arent on the list 

[soccersnaps]

i signed up with starling as i wanted to use fitbit pay, never heard of starling, but sign up was easy, loaded 25 quid, got the mastercard and it works perfectly.

i would say, dont be worried about signing up with starling to access a great utility on the watch

[SunsetRunner]

Starling is excellent. All online.. superb app and no extra charges when abroad. Used it all round Australia in December when I got my Ionic (we got them for the pre pay and no charges). Not actually tried it out on the Ionic back in the UK. Also bear in mind that some of the reasons for the restricted list of banks is from the banks themselves. Some of them (Barclays) won't appear outside of their own app (no android pay/Samsung pay) and some of them have done exclusive deals

[soccersnaps]

works really great in the uk, my ionic just stepped up a level with starling

[Barrett.rich]

Just to add I spoke to Danskr back k and they will not issue a credit card to a UK mainland custoner unless you already bank with them. I am guessing this applies to precisely no one.

So no possibility of living in the UK and having a credit card on fit bit pay 😢

[Pip0]

Well for those of us in the Northern Ireland part of the UK it means quite a large number of us can have the service. It makes a big change as usually we are the forgotten part of the UK and England Scotland and Wales usually get everything new first! The majority of adverts talk about UK and then the small print says excludes NI!. Sorry, I know it doesn't help you but I just can't believe we have something first!!


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[TheOnlyBergerac]

To be completely honest, i like many others wont be opening a new bank account just to gain a feature of the watch.

My expectation was that fitbit would slowly but eventually add new banks, this is obviously not the case and now we as users have paid a high cost for a smartwatch lacking in one of its supposed 'features'

[burs]

I agree. I don't want another bank account just for my watch. For other reasons it makes a lot of sense for me to use my existing cards / bank. Before I bought the watch, I looked at the Fitbit documentation which says: -

"Fitbit Pay works with many of the major credit and debit cards from the top banks and card issuers around the world.....We're working with more issuing banks to support Fitbit Pay. If you don't see your bank or card issuer listed, check back soon"

I wouldn't consider Starling a top bank, and based on the statement above I really thought I'd see major UK banks come on board. I appreciate that Fitbit may not be in control, but if that's the case, the statement above is very misleading.

So I'm a bit disappointed, and certainly wouldn't recommend that anyone buys this watch if the payment feature is one of the reasons.

[TheOnlyBergerac]

Yeah i agree, its a very misleading information. In fact could it not consititute mis selling?

I have never heard of Starling and i am sure they wouldnt even come in the top ten of banking institutions