Samsung Pay is set to lose its rewards program points benefits by the end of this year. This is a popular feature among Samsung device owners as it offers a way to collect points for use later when purchasing almost anything. However, Samsung is now making some fundamental changes to the rewards program that will result in those savings becoming a lot less frequent.

Samsung isn’t the only company that has launched a ‘Pay’ service in recent years with Apple Pay and Google Pay (formerly Android Pay) also having launched as well. While all of these share the same fundamental benefit of being able to pay with a smartphone (in some cases, a smartwatch too), Samsung Pay was far more useful. This was due to Samsung’s LoopPay acquisition in 2015 which allowed its mobile payments service to utilize magnetic secure transmission (MST) technology. Essentially, this meant Samsung Pay could be used at almost any terminal that a credit card could also be used at, compared to Apple and Google Pay having to solely rely on NFC.

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In addition to being able to use Samsung Pay in most places, it was also included in Samsung's Rewards program, allowing device owners to accumulate points when making purchases. However, as Android Police points out, affected users are currently receiving emails explaining the use of Samsung Pay to collect third-party rewards points is coming to an end. According to the reported emails, the feature will be turned off as soon as December 31, 2020 and a knock-on effect of this decision is the tier system is also being shut down.

Samsung Pay & Rewards Are Still Available

Samsung Rewards

For reference, Samsung Pay is not going anywhere and neither is the actual rewards program. Instead, Samsung is simply removing the option to collect rewards points through Samsung Pay. From January 1, 2021, Samsung customers will only receive rewards points for purchases they make directly from Samsung. In other words, Samsung.com, the Galaxy Store, and through “other Samsung services and applications.”

Of course, the change may not be as important to some users as it once was. For starters, 2020 has radically changed how people shop, placing a greater importance on social distancing and online spending, resulted in less opportunities to use Samsung Pay in stores and elsewhere. In addition, the market has changed since these 'Pay' services first launched, with more options to pay for goods and services with a swipe or tap of a device or card. This is partly because NFC has also become far more commonplace these days, also opening up the option to use Apple Pay and Google Pay in more locations than ever before. With more options now available, some users are less likely to be as affected by Samsung’s latest change as they might have been, although that doesn’t change the fact Samsung Pay is still losing one of its best benefits.

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Source: Android Police