{"id":2358,"date":"2016-04-02T00:53:19","date_gmt":"2016-04-02T04:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/?p=2358"},"modified":"2016-04-02T01:13:38","modified_gmt":"2016-04-02T05:13:38","slug":"death-of-the-google-wallet-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2358","title":{"rendered":"Death of the Google Wallet Card"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/7\/7b\/Google_Wallet_logo.svg\/223px-Google_Wallet_logo.svg.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"90\" height=\"97\" \/>\u00a0I like the Google Card. \u00a0I like the idea of a prepaid card, which is not directly linked to my checking\/savings account. \u00a0Needless to say, I am a heavy user of the Google Wallet card. \u00a0I carry no cash. \u00a0I have been using the Google Wallet Card for my everyday spending, coffee, breakfast, coffee, lunch, coffee&#8230;you get the idea.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine my surprise when a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/wallet\/card\/\">notification from Google<\/a> came across my screen which read, in part&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;After careful consideration, we\u2019ve decided that we\u2019ll no longer support the Wallet Card as of June 30&#8230;.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Say Whaaa-aat?? \u00a0I was stunned. \u00a0I have used the card since it came out two years ago. \u00a0In my humble opinion, this is one of the few things that Google has gotten right, shit-can that Android Pay (I&#8217;ve never used that &#8211; I don&#8217;t trust it), I want to keep the card. What I found so delightful about the card was&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It was always a conversation starter. \u00a0&#8220;That&#8217;s cool&#8230;where&#8217;d you get that?&#8221; is usually how the conversation got started, and from there I&#8217;d tout the advantages of the card.<\/li>\n<li>You have to physically load the card from an app. \u00a0No money &#8211; no honey. \u00a0If the money wasn&#8217;t there; the transaction didn&#8217;t go through. \u00a0I like that.<\/li>\n<li>Built in security. \u00a0There is no direct link to my checking account. \u00a0If the card get&#8217;s stolen, they&#8217;ll only get what I&#8217;ve loaded. \u00a0Which, as far as I know, is unlike a debit card where the little bastards can clean out your account before you can say&#8230;&#8221;hey, what the&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>No Fees. \u00a0Nadda, Zip, Nothing. Zero.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The great, consumer conscience leaders of Google did make a couple of recommendations.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.serve.com\/googlewallet\/?extlink=us-serve-pa-google-wallet&amp;SOLID=EMAIL_PUB1\">American Express Serve<\/a>. \u00a0As a service to Google wallet users, once you deposit $500; they&#8217;ll give you $20. \u00a0Gee, thanks. \u00a0Based upon the fee structure..it&#8217;ll only take four months to have that eaten, as American Express charges $5.95 a month for the &#8220;privilege&#8221; of using their service. \u00a0If you want to use the card overseas, that&#8217;ll run you an additional 2.7% per transaction. Their app has good reviews. \u00a0The monthly fee is a show stopper for me.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.simple.com\/\">Simple<\/a>. \u00a0Never heard of it before today. \u00a0Simple will give you $20 just for joining them (provided you&#8217;re coming over from Google). At first glance, I thought, &#8220;Hey, this might work.&#8221; But then I read it may take up to three days for deposits to clear. \u00a0Google wallet was roughly a minute or two.\n<ul>\n<li>There is a lot to like about this pre-paid option; but it is a bank. \u00a0It is connected (I think) directly to your account; which is a non-starter for me. \u00a0If anyone out there knows of this card, let me know what you think.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Neither of the two options above really fit my situation. \u00a0I use the card to manage my weekly &#8220;mad&#8221; money. \u00a0Money that I can just blow on me. \u00a0For me, it is important to have almost instantaneous reload and for the card to be secure (i.e. not directly linked to my checking\/savings).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I did stumble across another option though. \u00a0A little known card (to me), called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bluebird.com\/\">Bluebird<\/a>. \u00a0This card is also from, ready for this; American Express. \u00a0This card has no fees however. \u00a0A feature I like is the Personal Financial management feature. \u00a0I can set limits so that I will only be so much coffee (Simple had a similar feature).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For a comparison and good reading, check out <a href=\"http:\/\/consumersunion.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Prepaid_Cards_How_They_Rate_2014.pdf?intlink=us-bluebird-marketing-home-prospectslp-jun2015prospects-hero-learnmoreconsumerreports#page=12\">Consumer Reports, November, 2014<\/a> edition. \u00a0If you are planning to use the prepaid card in addition to a bank account, I&#8217;d refer you to page 9. \u00a0If you&#8217;re looking to replace your bank, I&#8217;d refer you to page 11. \u00a0I will have to make the switch prior to June 30th.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">A note of caution<\/span>: Prepaid cards are not for everyone, and there are places where one shouldn&#8217;t be used. \u00a0Avoid using a prepaid card where the merchant is likely to put a hold on your money. Try not to use prepaid cards to buy gas at the pump or to pay for hotels or rental cars. These types of companies can put extra holds on your card for a certain amount of time. During this time, you won\u2019t be able to use all of your money.<\/p>\n<p>Some history of <a href=\"http:\/\/frugaling.org\/google-wallet-card\/\">why Google created the card<\/a> to begin with. \u00a0A part of me wishes that this is just a bad April Fools joke. \u00a0But I know it&#8217;s not. \u00a0So, because Google has decided to end a good thing, they are my selection for Asshole of the Month for March 2016.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Congratulations Google; you&#8217;re the Asshole of the Month!!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0I like the Google Card. \u00a0I like the idea of a prepaid card, which is not directly linked to my checking\/savings account. \u00a0Needless to say, I am a heavy user of the Google Wallet card. \u00a0I carry no cash. \u00a0I &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2358\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[49,8,16,100],"tags":[67,59],"class_list":["post-2358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aom","category-life","category-rants-raves","category-reviews","tag-banks","tag-security"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15065,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/15065","url_meta":{"origin":2358,"position":0},"title":"Virginia vs. the Fed\u2026. Who\u2019s got the better case?","author":"DR D","date":"October 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, the governor of Virginia, Glen Younkin, ordered the removal of 1600+ individuals from Virginia\u2019s voting roster.\u00a0 These 1600+ people were previously identified, and are known non-citizens.\u00a0 According to the governor\u2019s press secretary, \u201c\u2026everyone who was removed from the voter roll [has] 14 days to come back and demonstrate that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/virginia_Seal.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2571,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2571","url_meta":{"origin":2358,"position":1},"title":"Am I smarter than the waffle iron?","author":"DR D","date":"October 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, the bosslady and I have been on the road. \u00a0I'll give more details on the trip in another post later. \u00a0But today, I'd like to concentrate on the evils of waffle machines. \u00a0Sure, they look innocent...but they are really evil. The machine in question was found in Greensboro, NC.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AoM&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AoM","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/rants-raves\/aom"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/waffles.jpg?fit=550%2C366&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/waffles.jpg?fit=550%2C366&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/waffles.jpg?fit=550%2C366&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":928,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/928","url_meta":{"origin":2358,"position":2},"title":"Time for an update&#8230;.","author":"DR D","date":"April 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Good afternoon everyone, I've been looking to update the \"warez\" from my site, There are a couple of items I'd like to update, the coffee mug (right) and my business cards. \u00a0What I'm asking from you, my fellow readers is two fold, #1: do you like the cup design? #2:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"DDD\"","block_context":{"text":"DDD","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/tag\/ddd-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"DDD Mug idea 1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/DDD-Mug-idea-1-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":866,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/866","url_meta":{"origin":2358,"position":3},"title":"Is your hard drive REALLY defragged?","author":"DR D","date":"February 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Good morning everyone!\u00a0 Today's post is all about keeping your digital house in order. As you all know, I'm kind of a prick when it comes to keeping your computer clean and free of bugs.\u00a0 As I commonly state, \"Safe computing has a lot in common with safe sex, cleanliness\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/computing"},"img":{"alt_text":"A very cluttered hard drive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/DrD-Defrag-300x195.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2609,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2609","url_meta":{"origin":2358,"position":4},"title":"After the Office Christmas Party&#8230;","author":"DR D","date":"December 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The other week my cat was talking to his girlfriend, you may remember her, Jazz. \u00a0It appears that Jazz had a note on her desk when she got back to work from lunch the other day (See the picture on the left). \u00a0She was, you could say: distressed. After this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/life"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20161130_151140_resized-237x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":905,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/905","url_meta":{"origin":2358,"position":5},"title":"My take on gun control..","author":"DR D","date":"April 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Good morning everyone!\u00a0 My cat and I were in a deep discussion yesterday regarding all the ranting going on over gun control. It is my stance that there are already enough laws on the books regarding gun control, and that, prior to establishing new laws; it would be a good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2358"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2367,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358\/revisions\/2367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}