After being launched in 2014, Apple Pay is one of the dominant players in the mobile payment platform. Now it seems like Google wants to replicate Apple’s model with its own flavor added into it. According to a report by TechCrunch suggests that Google is developing its own physical and virtual debit cards system.
This new service will be an important feature of the existing Google Pay which only allows online and peer-to-peer payments by connecting a traditionally issued payment card. Now Google issued debit card will also allow Google to keep a track on your payment and purchases.
The Google debit card will come co-branded with the Google name and its partnered bank. The partner banks could be Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union. Right now, Google is using Visa as the payment processor but in the future, they could expand that to other payment processors like Mastercard. The main difference between Apple cards and Google cards is that Apple’s card is a full credit card whereas Google card is a debit card. The Visa-based Google debit card would be available both as a tap-to-pay option on your phone and a physical item, with detailed tracking of what you spent and where.
Google’s app reportedly will allow customers to easily track purchases. Google’s app reportedly will allow customers to easily track purchases. The report indicates that there could be an option to control how much data you want to share. The report doesn’t shed any light on if Google will provide any benefits or cashback if you use the card. Apple does offer cashback if you use their card so you have to wait to see how Google handles this matter. There is no word on where and when this card will release.
The company released a statement to TechCrunch saying, “We’re exploring how we can partner with banks and credit unions in the US to offer smart checking accounts through Google Pay, helping their customers benefit from useful insights and budgeting tools while keeping their money in an FDIC or NCUA-insured account. Our lead partners today are Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union, and we look forward to sharing more details in the coming months.”
Privacy will be a big question in this whole offering. Google is an advertising behemoth. So Google could use the data to target third-party ads. Many people are already worried about the search giant’s tracking on the web. So will they choose Google as their financial solution will be interesting to see.
