Less than 8 years after shutting down its physical Google Wallet card, Google may be close to launching another card for consumer financial use. Potentially dubbed the Google Pay card, a new leak has revealed a major feature that could be coming soon to your Google Pay app, one that could help Google provide some competition for the Apple Card.
The folks at TechCrunch landed the details that show what the physical Google Pay card could look like, the app, some of its features, and how detailed transactions would be.
The card, which you can see below, would be a chip-equipped debit card (powered by VISA) attached to a bank account that could be used for old school swipes or contactless payments in stores. It would also be stored virtually within the Google Pay app, where it could be used for online payments, moving money around, and sending cash to others. It’s not necessarily unlike your current bank card, until you dive into some of the features that come as a part of the app experience.
In the screenshots below, you can see how this Google Pay card might live on your device. You would be able to pull up lists of transactions with details, see where purchases were made with shortcuts to Google Maps, and potentially call those locations if you need to.
You would be able to add funds to your account through the Google Pay app, see card numbers and bank account info, specify the types of notifications related to Google Pay you’d like to receive, setup PINs or lock cards, order replacement cards, enable/disable contactless payments, and more.
The app would essentially provide a one-stop financial info solution within your phone that might not require you to maintain both Google Pay and a separate banking app. That could be cool!
A lot of this info seems to tie-in nicely to the report from last November that suggested Google was looking at ways to become your checking account provider. At the time of that report, Google confirmed that they were working with Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union, which they suggested again to TechCrunch without denying that a Google Pay card was in the works.
What’s the play here with Google and why take another stab at a physical debit card? I’m sure Google would love to collect info related to personal financial transactions and potentially take small cuts as a financial partner to banking institutions. If they can find a way to convince both partners and you and I that this would be a win, which might not be hard if the Apple Card is having any success, this could be big.
// TechCrunch