How long does it take to set up an Apple Pay account and be able to use it

It can be used immediately as long as the card has been approved with the information provided. There are several checks that will be done for approval including:

• Age of user
• Credit card is supported
• If the billing information of the card matches that of the user

As fast as you can type in your credit and billing info

All Card Issuers do not have a common or same availability with regard to “approving” the addition of their card to an Apple Wallet and therefore Apple Pay. As an example you may decide to add your Credit Card to your Apple Pay Wallet on a Sunday and the specific issuing bank only staffs their approval department on Monday through Friday within a less than 24 hr. Time window. In such case you would not be able to utilize that card via Apple Pay until that departments approval staff was accessible for approving the card add.

Adding payment methods to Apple Wallet (or any other digital wallet) is done without human involvement, unless the automated system detects a possible fraud or positive identification issue. Please review the data flow in the image below.