In November of last year, a report from The Wall Street Journal claimed that Google was planning to offer a checking account some time this year in partnership with Citigroup and the Stanford Federal Credit Union. Now, the company could be pairing that effort with a physical debit card that it"s reportedly developing, TechCrunch reports.
The official name of the card remains unknown, but it is seen as Google"s take on Apple Card, the Cupertino giant"s full-blown credit card offering. The only difference is that Google"s version is a debit card, with partners like Citigroup and Stanford Federal Credit Union. It will also include support for Visa, though support for other payment processors like MasterCard is also possible, according to the report.
Like Apple Card, Google"s debit card can be used to make purchases online and in-store. The report says the card will form a key part of Google Pay, Google"s payment system that currently supports online, peer-to-peer, and contactless payments in stores. It will reportedly be linked to a Google app (presumably the Google Pay app) in order to let consumers monitor their payments and purchases as well as lock their account in the event of a loss or theft. The physical card is also said to have a card number that"s different from its virtual card number for online use or in-app payments. More importantly, the virtual card number will allow customers to still make payments through their phone in case they lose their debit card. That said, there"s no word on when Google will release the card.
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