8087dca36be24c33288343a1.jpg

Google will dive into the personal finance market next year by offering checking accounts through their Google Pay app.

The new service aptly named Cache is set to launch early 2020. Google is partnering with financial giant Citigroup and Stanford Federal Credit Union to assist with transition.

I first heard about the story from CNBC.

Personally I haven't tried Google Pay yet, but I foresee a future where I will be able to check out at a store by simply waving my phone over the payment terminal, and it knows which account I wish to pay with and if I'm a member of the store's rewards program.

Long gone will be the days of shuffling through your wallet to find the right cards to pay with. At least that is what I believe is the ultimate goal of Google and Apple in regards to their payment apps.

I can see this as a possibility with the way technology is moving forward towards smartphones being an all in one device for storing and transmitting your information.

Although making it easier to complete point-of-sale transactions is nice, the better selling point can be security as many banks and retailers have suffered data breaches in recent years.

The Chili's Bar and Grill data breach of 2018, the Wendy's fastfood credit breach of 2016, and the Target Black Friday breach of 2013 to name a few.

The data breaches did help accelerate the process of switching to the EMV card and point-of-sale standard in the US.

Hopefully the first time I do end up using Google Pay it will go much more smoothly than the first time I paid with an EMV card.

Read More...