Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 179 posts

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#41

Post by oaktowner »

ssully wrote: post #35
kaeawc wrote: post #3

I am sad about this. I've used the card since it came out years ago. Reloading, paying, canceling, renewing, locking were all so super easy. Only reason I didn't switch to Simple was because of the existence of Google Wallet + card, guess I'll be looking into that now.

I'll vouche for Simple. Their app and Goals feature are great, but the thing I love is the real time purchase notifications. It's kind of amazing to me that no bank (that I have used yet) have apps with this functionality. It's incredibly comforting to get a notification everytime I buy something. It also helped me identify falsified purchases the moment they happened, which enabled me to put a hold on my card and fi…

Chase gives me this for my Visa card (I can set an 'alert' level). I buy nearly everything with that card (and use it to pay most of my other bills as well).

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#42

Post by ianburrell »

fl0wenol wrote: post #25
mchahn wrote: post #4

This makes it obvious how successful the Wallet Card was, I wonder how well Google Pay is doing. I would not have even heard about Google pay if I wasn't on HN, and I have used Android from the beginning.

They're canceling it _because_ it was successful. The issue is that by using virtual Master Cards they have to pay part of the interchange fee to Citi (or was it Bancorp?). Not only that, but if you were backing it by a credit card, then they ate the 2% fee that they get charged in the backend when hitting your real credit card. Plus the fact that they were essentially issuing you and everyone else short term credit…

There is no backing credit card with Google Wallet Card. The card is debit card for the balance in Google Wallet. The Google Wallet balance could be transferred from bank accounts or debit card, or from credit cards with fee.

The confusion is that Google Wallet app did both the Wallet transfers and NFC payments. Before Android Pay, the NFC payments used virtual credit cards.

The send money functionality for Google Wallet still exists. It is now the only purpose of the separate Wallet app.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#43

Post by dheera »

The Wallet Card was invented for places that don't take Android Pay, to pay in the form of a regular credit/debit card. Unfortunately, this is useless because it is the same level of (in)convenience as a credit card, and doesn't offer the 2-5% cashback that all the other cards I have do.

Even if a store accepted NFC-based Android Pay, I'd probably still opt to pull out my plastic card for the cashback and consumer protection. Google/Apple Pay need to find a way to weave benefits into their systems if they want to win the market.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#44

Post by duaneb »

kyrra wrote: post #36
blakesterz wrote: post #2

hmm, not even sure what that was. I know this sounds like sour grapes complaining so feel free to read it in Verruca Salt's voice if you want... This is why I am scared to try anything new from Google. I know why they do it, I know how they do things, I totally get it, but it does not make it better. I know they like trying new things. I know they're not afraid to get rid of things that aren't performing like they wa…

Google keep just got its iOS client this past fall. As far as I can tell, they keep adding small improvements to it. The nice thing with most Google apps is that you can get your data out easily with Takeout: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2015/08/export-all-your-goo...

Unrelated to article, but keep really is awesome. I use the iOS app every day.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#45

Post by ssully »

ssully wrote: post #35
kaeawc wrote: post #3

I am sad about this. I've used the card since it came out years ago. Reloading, paying, canceling, renewing, locking were all so super easy. Only reason I didn't switch to Simple was because of the existence of Google Wallet + card, guess I'll be looking into that now.

I'll vouche for Simple. Their app and Goals feature are great, but the thing I love is the real time purchase notifications. It's kind of amazing to me that no bank (that I have used yet) have apps with this functionality. It's incredibly comforting to get a notification everytime I buy something. It also helped me identify falsified purchases the moment they happened, which enabled me to put a hold on my card and fi…

Heh apparently this isn't that unique! I had 2 banks prior to simple and none had notifications close to the level that Simple offers. It's great to hear others have it because I wont use a bank that doesn't offer something similar.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#46

Post by grahamburger »

jonesb6 wrote: post #27
blakesterz wrote: post #2

hmm, not even sure what that was. I know this sounds like sour grapes complaining so feel free to read it in Verruca Salt's voice if you want... This is why I am scared to try anything new from Google. I know why they do it, I know how they do things, I totally get it, but it does not make it better. I know they like trying new things. I know they're not afraid to get rid of things that aren't performing like they wa…

I wonder how the engineers on these projects feel. To work really hard on something just to have it thrown out due to "business reasons". Must suck.

Seems like most of the projects that get the axe have been neglected for a while first. Probably no one is really pouring their heart in to these things enough to be too upset.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#47

Post by noobiemcfoob »

grahamburger wrote: post #6

This is the first of Google's product cancellations that will affect me personally. My wife and I have been using Google Wallet cards for budgeting - we transfer our spending money to the cards each week to help track our spending. Honestly there's no reason Google Wallet was superior for this - I expect Simple will solve our problems better anyway. Should have seen this coming when they split it off of Android Pay.

+1 for Simple!

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#48

Post by jdmichal »

grahamburger wrote: post #30
jdmichal wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When they say "bank", the term used in payments processing is "issuing bank", or more simply "issuer". The issuer is the entity that processes your application and issues you a card. They are responsible for approving purchases [0] on cards they issue and settling with the merchants. So that list is basically the set of issuing banks which have done whatever steps are necessary to integrate with Android Pay. [0] Typi…

I think the point I'm trying to make is that you don't need to be using one of those banks to be using Android Pay. I use Android Pay for tap-to-pay purchases regularly and do not use one of the supported banks. You can use Android Pay with any major credit or debit card.

I'll refer you to here: https://www.android.com/pay/#supported-networks

Note the verbiage on the second section of the supported issuers: "Add a card from any of these participating banks and continue to get the same rewards, benefits, and security of your cards."

I have a feeling that unless the issuing bank is supported, that Google is basically routing the payment through themselves. (Your responses on the other thread seems to confirm this.) So basically, Google bills your card directly, and they somehow route the money to the merchant. (Not sure what would the the "normal" way to do that; a bit out of my depth. I could probably ask people if you really want to know.) This means that, for instance, if your card gives a bonus for restaurants, and you use Android Pay and the issuer is not supported, that you likely will not get that bonus. Because according to your card the merchant is actually Google and not the restaurant.

So basically, Google is acting as a middle man in the transaction. They (somehow) pay the merchant in lieu of your card, then bill your card directly. This would not happen with a supported issuer; the payment would proceed as it normally would without Google and you get all your sweet, sweet reward points.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#49

Post by LaMarseillaise »

I literally just ordered the card a few days ago. It has not even arrived yet (estimated delivery was between March 29 and April 3). I was eagerly awaiting the card, looking forward to using it for budgeting and mobile payments. Now I will just have to figure out something else.

Re: Google Shutting Down Wallet Card

#50

Post by ianburrell »

grahamburger wrote: post #10
curt15 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While Apple Pay adds dozens of banks each month, the list of Android Pay participating banks seems to have barely budged since the beginning ( https://support.google.com/androidpay/answer/6314169?hl=en ). In particular, Chase still doesn't work with Android Pay.

Honest question, I must be missing something here - Why does your bank need to participate? I just add the card number from any credit or debit card and tap to pay just works. I don't use any of the banks on the supported list. EDIT: Taking a stab at answering my own question - it looks like you can only set up ACH drafts from the list of supported banks, but as far as I can tell you can use any major credit card to…

Android Pay grandfathered cards that were entered in the old app. Those still use virtual credit card if the bank doesn't support tokenization.

After grace period, Android Pay no longer supports adding cards without support from bank and tokenization. For example, I had deleted my Chase card and get an error about bank not being supported if I try to add it.

Post reply on HN