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Google is Building Physical and Virtual Debit Cards (techcrunch.com) 62

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
Would you pay with a "Google Card?" TechCrunch has attained imagery that shows Google is developing its own physical and virtual debit cards. From the report The Google card and associated checking account will allow users to buy things with a card, mobile phone or online. It connects to a Google app with new features that let users easily monitor purchases, check their balance or lock their account. The card will be co-branded with different bank partners, including CITI and Stanford Federal Credit Union. A source provided TechCrunch with the images seen here, as well as proof that they came from Google. Another source confirmed that Google has recently worked on a payments card that its team hopes will become the foundation of its Google Pay app -- and help it rival Apple Pay and the Apple Card. Currently, Google Pay only allows online and peer-to-peer payments by connecting a traditionally issued payment card. A Google Pay Card would vastly expand the app's use cases, and Google's potential as a fintech giant.
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Google is Building Physical and Virtual Debit Cards More

Google is Building Physical and Virtual Debit Cards

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  • They already have stolen too much information from me. I'm not giving them more.

    What next? Internet enabled google branded sex toys? They can hook them up to Fitbit to let you know how you're performing, track orgasms vs faked orgasms and they promise to respect your privacy.
    • Yep, regardless of how much information they already glean from third parties, definitely don't care to have Google involved in directly in my financials.
      • This basically an Apple me-too?

        • Maybe? I predict it will surely mirror the Apple card by trying to compete with regular credit cards on pointless metrics like "ease of use" and something like 4% back on app purchases on the Play Store. A place where you shouldn't be spending enough to give a damn about an extra couple percent over a regular rewards-on-everything card.

          • I have used the 3% back on cards to make apple purchases. It was very nice to get 6% back over the holidays. I don't know how much one would spend with Google, but if you regularly use apple devices, they give you cash back on iPhone payments, iPads, watches, Apple TVs and of course Macs.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rjr162 ( 69736 )

          No, as Google Wallet had a card well before Apple Pay was a thing. This is more Google bringing back something they shouldn't have gotten rid of.

      • Nope....

        I"m not for voluntarily (from the source) give Google insight into my financial state or purchasing interests.

        They have plenty of info on me already, more than I'd like for them to have.

    • Right now, you should be paying down debt aggressively with money you're saving on travel and luxury expenses. Try consolidating and refinancing anything with high interest rate terms, since banks just dropped their rates. You can save a boatload and, in general, a loan is going to be deferred a month or so before it starts (if you have a reasonable bank).

      • Wife and I are actually looking to upgrade our home right now. In the 5 years we've owned our current house its gone up enough that we could sell and walk away with almost 100k in equity, allowing us to upgrade to a much larger house while keeping the same monthly payment. Worse case, we will refi and cut about $200 off our monthly payment

        • Location, location, location. That being said, real estate is down now so your house may not sell as quickly or as high as you'd like, otoh, you may buy in for less to your next place, too. Atm, all these usual assumptions about how things work are not necessarily so.

          • There is very little in my area that sells for what we would list our house for. Most list over 300k while ours would be below that. Plus we are in a good location.

            • I'm curious. What area are you in? I'm in Silicon Valley where prices stalled but haven't dropped dramatically either. More people rushing out to refi than buy right now.

              • Northern metro Atlanta, barely. Bought our house for 190, loan down to 175. 3 bed, 2.5 bath, 2k sq ft. Would list for about 280. All new construction is over 300 just for townhouses. Walking distance to a small old time downtown area. Also have a high interest rate (roughly 4.8, did a first time buyer so no pmi), should be a le to shave 1point off that down to 3.8. Selling for close to our ask should get us enough to avoid pmi, and get a house with 4 bed, basement, etc for essentially what we are paying no

                • Also, while it was in slightly better times a few months ago, we have had houses in our neighborhood with less upgrades than our house sell for 270-280 so the starting price is realistic (I don't expect to get it though)

                  • I'm always floored by numbers from other areas. Here, a shitty house (literally) under the freeway overpass goes for a million or more. When I was looking online last year to see what my down on this house gets me elsewhere to buy in cash I was seeing 7 to 12 rooms with indoor pools on lake fronts. I should really sell, retire and move someplace like that. I do understand where I am is non-reality but it's always a shocker to have it shoved in my face. Still, I suspect your life has been less stressful

                    • Yeah, right now there is a 5 bed, 3 bath 3500 sq house we are looking at for 300k. Of course, my commute (in non covid19 times) can be 45min to 1hr, but my wife's commute is less than 10 minutes. And we can't afford to move closer in to the city without compromising on size, schools, and/or location.

                    • Lol, my commute is 35 to 60 depending on traffic. Paying a lot of money here doesnt get you a 10 minute commute.

                      If I lived only 2 miles from work it would still take at least 10 minutes to get there.
  • No. I like my privacy, even with an 0.0001% change of contracting COVID from cash.

  • Thickness? (Score:3)

    by kackle ( 910159 ) on Friday April 17, 2020 @02:13PM (#59959256)

    Would you pay with a "Google Card?"

    Will it also break [reddit.com] my mechanic's credit card reader?

    • I call bullshit. Apple's card is identical in size to Mastercard's Titanium card or American Express gold/platinum cards. In fact its size difference from plastic cards can be measured in micrometers.

      Uah. I defended Apple. Don't let other people see this. I have a reputation as a hater to uphold.

  • FTFY (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mschaffer ( 97223 ) on Friday April 17, 2020 @02:15PM (#59959278)

    "It connects to a Google app with new features that let [Google] easily monitor purchases, check [your] balance or [go through your email]."

  • Middleman Cut (Score:3)

    by Retired ICS ( 6159680 ) on Friday April 17, 2020 @02:15PM (#59959280)

    Obviously the "middleman cut" is a lucrative business, and Google obviously wants their "middleman cut" on every transaction. So they can have their data collection machine selling data, acquiring yet more data to sell on each transaction, and get paid for the privilege of being able to collect and sell other people's private information.

    You seem to have figured out a way to eat your cake and have it too, while getting paid for the ingredients and the mixing too.
    Jolly Good and Spot On as they would say over'ome!

  • Would you pay with an Apple Card?

    https://www.apple.com/apple-ca... [apple.com]

    • Re:been there, done that (Score:4, Interesting)

      by supremebob ( 574732 ) <themejunky&geocities,com> on Friday April 17, 2020 @03:14PM (#59959580) Journal

      Well... of course Google is following in Apple's footsteps on this one. They're probably looking at all of the purchase data and credit card transaction fees Apple/Goldman Sachs are collecting right now from the Apple Card and are drooling over it.

      The real question is what the cash back percentage is going to be on Google Card transactions. We already know that most people don't give a shit about their privacy, so it's going to be rewards program that's going to be big selling point for this.

      I'll say it right now... I'm not willing to sell my soul to Google for any less than 2.5% cash back. I already get 2% from Apple and 5% back from certain purchases with my Discover card, so those are the percentages for Google to beat.

  • This is so high on my Do Not Want or Need list it ain't funny.

    Same with the Apple card.

    Keep my credit/debit tranx the hell away from Google and the Local and Fed Gov't. They don't need to know when I buy a bottle of cheap brandy, middling whisky, or a case of 30-06.

    Or how many times I hit a certain local-only burger joint.

    There has to be a separation between financial tranx and the Googles of the world.

    Cash is the best for that, but it's tough to do cash online. I suppose one could cash > refillable ca

  • Should never ever bitch about another single Anti-Trust or Monopoly problem ever again and expect to be worth listening to.

  • Would you pay with a "Google Card?" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Friday April 17, 2020 @02:41PM (#59959404) Journal
    LOL, no. Guaranteed, the legal agreement that would come with that would include detailed tracking of all transactions, personally identifiable, compiled and sold off to whatever nosy companies or government agencies -- or just the highest bidder, regardless of their intentions.

    Want some of your privacy back? Start paying for everything you can with cash. As a nice little side benefit you'll have an easier time balancing your checking account every month, with just a few receipts in your wallet from the ATM machine.
    "But Rick, I'll get robbed carrying cash!" No, you won't. Stop being a scaredy-cat and/or stop spreading baseless fear.
    "But Rick, the world is moving to cashless!" LOL no it's not, never will, for very good reasons.
    "But Rick, MUH CONVENIENCE!" That's just laziness. Stop complaining and just do it. Cash frees you. Plastic enslaves you. You know I'm right.
    "But Rick, {insert troll argument here}!" Lurk more.
    /subject
    • You're saying you've literally never purchased something online? Or are you counting a debit card as cash?
      • Oh gee sorry I forgot that one, let me fix that:
        "But Rick, you have to use plastic when you buy something online, so why bother with cash at all?" Because you get some of your privacy back using cash for in-person purchases, that's why. Of course you need to use a credit card for anything you buy online, but you can also use a pre-paid debit card for that and still preserve a little of your privacy, and in fact you should because when (not IF, but WHEN) the inevitable hackers break into the payment system
    • It is already happening. You can buy that data through AC Neilson or IRI or many other data broker.

  • But then I live in a country with consumer protections, not corporate protections.

  • Also, why the hell would you even do that in the first place? You can use your own debit card without adding the extra layer. Also these days especially if you insist on paying with plastic you're insane to use your debit card anyway, you should use a credit card or prepaid card to give at least one layer of protection against the inevitability of someone breaking into a payment system and robbing you blind. With a debit card they get everything you have; with a credit or prepaid card at least they don't ge
  • I don't anticipate them offering me anything that would make me even bother, much less risk the privacy violations. Meanwhile my Credit Card company gives me 1-3% cashback on all my purchases. That works out to about $40 bucks a month of free money (I spend way more than I want to, kid in college and all) that pays for my videogame hobby.
  • I walk to my mail box and see Sundar Pichai going through my mail. I tell him to knock it off, but despite opening all envelopes he claims he does not read my mail.

    I walk into the office and see Sundar Pichai on my computer, going through my links and browsing history. I tell him to knock it off, but despite having a note pad with URLs and dates written down he claims he does not search my browsing history.

    Now I see Sundar Pichai is trying to follow me to my bank branch. Fuck off Pichai, I had enough of
  • The feature I've really wanted for a long time - for both work and home - would be to have one main account. BUT the option to give each vendor a unique CC number. Each number would be virtual and tie into the main CC account. That way, if one number is breached, you would just have to give ONE vendor a new number. Not re-enter it in the 600 accounts that have the old number. This was a particularly a big deal at work when I managed Amazon's version of AdWord campaigns. EACH campaign had to have a CC enter

  • Again? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Eubeleus ( 150101 ) on Friday April 17, 2020 @03:14PM (#59959576)

    They did this not long ago and it was called the Google Wallet card. I still have the physical card.

  • >"Would you pay with a "Google Card?"

    Absolutely not. Google has far too much information about me already. I am not handing that to them. I advise others against it, as well.

  • What I'd really want out of something like this is a virtual card # I could use for online shopping in lue of my actual card. I can get a virtual card #, use it for a specific transaction, and it ties back to my main card that I don't have to give the number out on. If shitty company that happens to sell what I need gets hacked or sells the info it doesn't damage me or compromise anything useful. You'd think the CC companies and banks would be all over this as it would give better visibility to the sourc

  • ..less than the plastic it's printed on

  • For a sec there, the headline had me thinking Google was going to squash Privacy.com. It's what I believe will eventually happen. "Virtual card" threw me off. I guess I'll have to wait for the banks to squash them.

  • It's got access to billions of cameras, microphones, petabytes of images and text posted online, and yet it still wants more.

    Maybe someone should stage an intervention. This is beginning to look like an addiction.

  • Please let me insert Google into all of my payment transactions. It makes so much sense and is so convenient. Track me, catalog me, sell me off to the highest bidder. Please Google rescue me from privacy.

  • For online shopping I always use a credit card and while in a physical store I use a debit chip card from my bank. I don't want to wake up one morning to an empty bank account.

  • Guess what happens when you try and do everything? You end up being not being able to concentrate on any one product. Their search engine already sucks with not much innovation in the recent past.

  • 2FA (Score:2)

    by Bengie ( 1121981 )
    Finally, a "bank" that supports proper 2FA. Most of the other options out there don't have 2FA at all or only allow SMS, which is many times implemented in a way that works as a single factor. Ohh, I see you setup 2FA with your phone, now you can also reset your password via SMS, because why not. Last I heard, SMS hijacking was up to 700,000 takeovers per year.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Bengie ( 1121981 )
      Wrong click, wasn't done. Very few banking sites support TOTP and virtually none support security keys. Got 4 Yubikey 5s between my wife and I. Would like to use them for more services.

      FIDO2/Webauthn really have me excited. It supports a proper public key setup. It is optional, but a site can request a type of key where the security key generates a new private public key pair just for that site, based on the DNS name provided by the browser. The security key will send its public key to the site and the si
  • I would if Google was the bank and eliminated the transaction fees and other funds transfer fees. I'd consider the value worth the trade off. Inserting Google between me and their banking partners doesn't provide sufficient value.

  • Could it be that they meant "obtained" rather than "attained"?

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