Google has significantly overhauled its Google Pay payment service. Both iPhone and Android users can now get started with the new app. Dutch users still have to be patient.
Google Pay started out as a replacement for your physical debit card, but in recent years more and more functionalities have been added. Despite this, the core has always remained the same and the focus is still on contactless payment. The service has been around for five years and 150 million users in thirty different countries use Google Pay. Time for an update, Google must have thought.
Personal finance
In addition to the new design, Google is focusing on personal finance in the new app. This makes it easier to make payments to friends and companies faster. You could already send and pay for payment requests, but thanks to the new app it becomes easier to, for example, share a bill with friends and see who has paid their part of the bill or not.
In addition, there is a tab in the app, in which offers or discounts from various shops can be found. Under another tab you get insight into your expenses, so that you know exactly what is going where.
The internet giant is also working with eleven banks to launch a kind of digital bank account in 2021, which you can fully manage on your mobile devices. You then close an account with one of the affiliated banks, after which you can manage all your finances in the Google Pay app. For the time being, only American banks are participating in the new bank account, called Plex.
Disappointment for Dutch users
After the announcement of the renewed app, Google came with a somewhat disappointing message for Dutch users. The internet company saw no reason to launch the Google Pay app in our country for the time being. That does not mean that you cannot get started with the payment service. Google has launched a limited version of Pay. If you are a customer of bunq, Revolut or N26, you can add a card to Google Pay within the apps of these banks. In this way you can still pay contactless and you can also use the payment service at web stores that support this.
Various major Dutch banks have now indicated that they are interested in offering Google Pay to customers, without making specific promises about this. ABN AMRO expects to report more about this in the course of 2021. Should more banks embrace Google’s service, it is obvious that a Google Pay app could still be installed in the Netherlands.
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