Google unveils prepaid debit card

[webfact]

Google unveils prepaid debit card

BY ALEXEI ORESKOVIC

SAN FRANCISCO

Surfboards lean against a wall at the Google office in Santa Monica, California, October 11, 2010.

CREDIT: REUTERS/LUCY NICHOLSON

(Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOG.O) will offer a prepaid debit card that will allow consumers to purchase goods at stores and to withdraw cash from ATM machines, the Internet company said on Wednesday.

The card, which is only available in the United States, lets consumers access the funds stored in their Google Wallet accounts. Google Wallet is a smartphone app and online payment service that lets consumers buy goods and transfer money to each other.

The new Wallet card will be accepted at "millions of locations" that accept MasterCard and at ATM machines, Google said in a post on its official blog on Wednesday. Google said the card is free and that the company will not charge cardholders any monthly or annual fees.

The card could help advance Google's efforts to play a bigger role in commerce and provide the company with valuable information about consumer shopping habits, though it appears to be less ambitious than the full-fledged credit card once rumored to be in the works.

Plans for a Google consumer credit card were shelved when the head of Google's Wallet and payments group, Osama Bedier, left the company in May, according to a report at the time in the technology blog AllThingsD.

Google, the world's No. 1 Internet search engine, in 2011 began offering a special AdWords Business credit card that its advertising customers could use to buy ads on its website.

A Google spokeswoman confirmed that data about transactions made with the new Wallet card - including a description of goods purchased, the amount of the transaction and the name and address of the seller - would be added to the internal profiles that Google maintains for users of its services, which can be used to target ads.

Consumers add money to the new Wallet Card by linking it to a bank account or when another person transfers money to their Wallet account, according to Google. The card can be ordered online on Wednesday, and typically takes 10 to 12 days to arrive, a Google spokeswoman said.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/20/us-google-card-idUSBRE9AJ1F020131120

-- REUTERS 2013-11-21

[NeverSure]

Why don't I just write Google a cover letter and include all of my personal information including a copy of my passport and my birth certificate?

[harrry]

Why don't I just write Google a cover letter and include all of my personal information including a copy of my passport and my birth certificate?

Why bother ....they have all that now.

[edwardandtubs]

The card, which is only available in the United States

So why bother posting this news here?

[george]

The card, which is only available in the United States

So why bother posting this news here?

A good percent of Thaivisa users are accessing the site from USA.

[how241]

Why don't I just write Google a cover letter and include all of my personal information including a copy of my passport and my birth certificate?

Why bother ....they have all that now.

ha ha ha....but possibly true.

[bangarang]

Watch out Paypal?

[moradave]

If Google or eBay ever accept BitCoins as a medium of payment, the price of BitCoins will skyrocket. Not that they haven't already. $100 to $800 in the last 2 months or so.

[NeverSure]

Does anyone know an advantage to this google wallet? I can already do online banking with my smartphone. I have credit cards and debit cards which work with my banks. I have paypal for ebay and others.

My banks don't take pictures of my penis as a requirement to do biz. Knowing that Google is invasive, I won't even use Gmail.

What's the big deal here?

[CharlieH]

Google seeks ultimate "big brother" soon all will be Google, there is just no stopping the personal invasion, like a cancer eating away at people, soon they will consume everything in one way or another. They already have access to and know way too much in my opinion and there should be legislation stopping such all encompasing strategies and the effects they could have on individuals and personal lives.

Google:

Search

Ads

Cloud storage

Email

Financial (wallet)

Android ops

Apps

Not much left they dont control and cant access, whats next ?

Edited November 22, 2013 by CharlieH

[OMGImInPattaya]

Google seeks ultimate "big brother" soon all will be Google, there is just no stopping the personal invasion, like a cancer eating away at people, soon they will consume everything in one way or another. They already have access to and know way too much in my opinion and there should be legislation stopping such all encompasing strategies and the effects they could have on individuals and personal lives.

Google:

Search

Ads

Cloud storage

Email

Financial (wallet)

Android ops

Apps

Not much left they dont control and cant access, whats next ?

As an autonomous free person, you are free NOT to use any Google services. Of course, you can also use most of Google's for free, without signing in, so there is no record about what you're doing...so you can take off the tinfoil hat now.