Now this may finally get you to use mobile payments - CNET

While tens of millions of customers will have access to this new Mastercard-powered payment option, the folks left out will be Apple iPhone users. That's because Apple doesn't permit other companies to use the NFC chip in its phones, which powers Apple Pay.

James Anderson, Mastercard's executive vice president of digital payment products, said banks' ability to provide more information, including balances and rental car coverage, alongside mobile payments, could give these apps a leg up over services like Apple Pay. Chase is also working on its own mobile payment service, called (you guessed it) Chase Pay.

While the banks' new payments feature may become competition to tech players, Paul Moreton, Capital One's vice president of digital product management, said his company plans to continue working with Mastercard and with Apple, Google, PayPal and others to enable all kinds of digital payments.

"I don't think there's a one size fits all and I think there's a lot to be leaed," he said.

There's a very long way to go to make mobile payments something most people use. Apple Pay jump-started the concept, helping mobile payments sales reach $8.7 billion in the US last year, according to researcher eMarketer. While that may sound like a big number, it's still a tiny sliver of the $4.8 trillion total US retail sales in 2015. Mobile payments sales are expected to triple this year, eMarketer said.

For now, mobile payments aren't widespread enough to become a habit for most customers, partly because there still aren't that many terminals in the US that allow you to wave and pay.