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02 Aug 2012

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Kyle Psaty

Kyle is the Editor of the DailyPerk, and is a member of the PerkStreet staff working on PR, marketing and content efforts at the Boston office. He is tasked with upholding the values of honesty and integrity and supporting the notion that PerkStreet and its customers should win together.

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Rewards on Google Wallet: Pay with Your Phone and Earn Cash Back
16 Comments
Rewards on Google Wallet Pay and Earn Cash Back

How do you pay with your phone and earn rewards? This week, Google gave this question an answer, announcing that the much-talked-about Google Wallet mobile payment app can now be used with any credit or debit card from Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover — including PerkStreet.

The mobile app essentially allows you to pay with a card by way of your phone — so you don’t have to carry the card with you.

This means you can earn the rewards offered by your card provider while paying with Google’s mobile wallet app.

In other words, any rewards you can earn with your card by swiping will likely still be credited to you when you pay using the app. It’s time to talk about layering deals, offers and coupons to get the best deal possible on Google Wallet.

How to Pay with Your Phone and Earn Rewards

1) Big Discounts at National Retailers

Shortly after its inception last September, Google Wallet began announcing exclusive deals at major retailers for those paying with Google Wallet. Coupons! These deals have been consistently good, though they’ve primarily been available only in major metros. As of today, some of the deals Google Wallet is offering through national retailers include:

  • 15% off at the Gap (Bay Area) Exp. 12/31/12
  • 15% off at Banana Republic (Bay Area) Exp. 12/31/12
  • Up to 20% off at Foot Locker (NYC, SF, LA, DC, CHI) Exp. 2/2/13
  • 15% off at American Eagle Outfitters (NYC, SF, LA, DC, CHI) Exp. 12/31/12
Now that Google Wallet can be paired with pretty much any card, Google should have an easier time striking further deals with big retailers.

2) More Deals at Local Merchants

Google Wallet also features unique “Local Deals,” which (at least here in Boston) do not seem to overlap with the Google Offers that Google currently makes available to any Google user via the web. These deals are only accessible via Google Wallet, which implies Google is actively working to create a Google Wallet presence locally — at least in cities — right now. In theory, Google will continue to expand these deals as more merchants acquire the necessary technology to accept mobile payments.

Layering Deals, Offers and Coupons

Until this week, Google Wallet has only worked for folks with Citibank MasterCards® and Google prepaid cards. Now, you can add pretty much any credit or debit card to Google Wallet, making combo-deals possible.

Since Google Wallet simply allows users to pay with their cards through their phones, the rewards typically earned by using the cards will still be credited to users when they use Google Wallet. This means PerkStreet customers who add their PerkStreet Financial Debit MasterCards® to Google Wallet and pay for their purchases by phone will still earn up to 5% cash back on debit when they do (provided they never enter their PINs).

This means any discounts or rewards Google Wallet ends up offering at checkout apply, and the remaining purchase will qualify for rewards on PerkStreet cards as well as many of the other rewards-earning credit and debit cards out there.

Google Wallet Still has Shortcomings

You may be thinking, I’m going to get Google Wallet right now and start layering deals! But not so fast. Google Wallet is still far from perfect. Two major barriers still remain in the way for most people:

  1. Google Wallet can only be used at about 200,000 stores, according to Google, including those of Whole Foods Market, McDonald’s and Walgreens. Google will be recruiting more merchants, but the technology simply isn’t going to work at many of the places you shop today.
  2. Google Wallet is only available on a half-dozen devices, meaning there’s a good chance you can’t even download it yet. Google will be working to make it available on more devices, but who knows how easy it will be, since AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are all collaborating on a Google Wallet competitor called Isis.

If you’re looking to save money and combine offers by using mobile payments, sit tight. It seems like this is something that will be more and more possible over time — especially after Isis launches. If you can, using Google Wallet to grab bonus rewards on top of your card’s rewards program seems like a no-brainer already.

Are you using Google Wallet with PerkStreet? Are you using it with another rewards debit or credit card? Tell us about the experience and share any tips you have in the comments below?

 

16 Comments
  • http://www.facebook.com/iamandyjohnston Andy Johnston

    This is admittedly off-topic, but while we’re waiting on technologies like Google Wallet to come of age or become available on devices and at merchants we use, it sure would be nice to access the bank we love on a native Android/iOS app.

    Patiently waiting,
    Andy

  • Debrakay22

    no dont trust google to keep my information safe and not give it to third parties sorrry

  • http://twitter.com/hawaii2000 mike swanson

    ” . . . any rewards you can earn with your card by swiping will likely still be credited to you when you pay using the app.”
    So far, bloggers have been using terms like “will likely” and “should” when it comes to whether or not rewards will actually be issued when using their rewards credit cards via Wallet. Doesn’t anyone actually know for certain? I added my cards to Wallet and I won’t be using Wallet if the rewards don’t come through.

  • http://dailyperk.perkstreet.com/ PerkStreet Mary

    Hi Andy,

    Thanks for the comment! We really appreciate your patience. We had to change direction from our original development as it didn’t reach our standards in the beta stage. We will be sure to announce a timeline as soon as we’re confident we can hit the dates. 

    - Mary
    Mary Mallard
    PerkStreet Financial

  • http://dailyperk.perkstreet.com/ PerkStreet Mary

    Totally understandable, thanks for your comment! A lot of people aren’t comfortable with giving their personal information to third parties. We just want to keep you up to date with all the latest information related to personal finance, and it’s great to know your opinions on it.

    -Mary

  • http://dailyperk.perkstreet.com/ PerkStreet Mary

    Hi Mike,

    It’s hard to say definitively that you WILL get rewards, even on PerkStreet, because it’s so new. We don’t know if Google Wallet will change something rapidly. As of right now, it appears these transactions are all being processed as “Credit,” so it looks like you can earn PerkStreet rewards.

    -Mary

  • takabanana

    So these transactions are passed on as “Credit” by Google to the virtual card’s Issuer.  But does Google also pass on the category type of transaction (i.e. Gas, Restaurant, Movies, Theme Parks, etc) so that the Issuer can give the appropriate reward for that type? (i.e. Discover Card changes rewards based on category of purchase)

  • Josef Konneker

    I’ve been using Google Wallet and I enjoy it and I enjoy it. Someday I hope to walk around w/o my wallet. I wasn’t able to add my PerkStreet card yet and my wallet app is up to date.

  • http://Twitter.com/KylePs80 Kyle Psaty

    Good question, Takabanana. That I’m not sure of yet. We are doing some testing on our own in-house. If we figure it out, I’ll double back and leave the answer in the comments. 

    -Kyle

  • http://Twitter.com/KylePs80 Kyle Psaty

    Interesting, Josef… What kind of message did you get telling you it wasn’t accepted? If you weren’t able to find PerkStreet Financial in a list, try searching for The Bancorp Bank, which is our issuing bank partner. Hmm… 

    -Kyle

    Kyle Psaty
    PerkStreet Financial

  • Josef Konneker

    I have a Samsung Galuxy Nexus (ICS) w/ Google Wallet version 1.1  R63 v12. The only choices I have from the main screen under payment cards Add Citi Mastercard. Google Prepaid Card. And, Add gift card. There are no other options. NO place to search for. It’s those 3 or nothing. Please instruct me how to add my PerkStreet debit card or let me know if theres tech support that can walk me thru this.

  • Josef Konneker

    I can go to the web/google.com/wallet and add it there, but I’d like to add it to my phone so I can use the NFC, google wallet locally loaded on my phone. Not so much the ability to use it in the play store

  • Jonathan Price

    Mary, Will Perkstreet ever be able to give 2% for groceries like credit cards do, as a permanent reward?

  • Jonathan Price

    CASH IS STILL KING and the best deals are always going to be when you pull a Grant or Benjamin out of your pocket at some privately owned store asking for a discount

  • F

    you need to update the version of Google Wallet you are using – thats v1 ….. v2 allows any card to be registered – update through Play Store …….

  • Grave

    Google Wallet is awesome…when it works. The problem is support is atrocious when there are problems.

    I had to process a refund due to cashier error. Since I used my Google Wallet instead of a credit card, I had to tap my phone to process the refund. Cashier handed me the receipt showing the refund and all was well…so I thought. I checked my bank account later that day and instead of showing a credit, it was showing a duplicate charge for the original amount! Google Wallet was showing the same thing. I contacted Wallet support but it took 2 weeks for them to get back to me. Luckily it was only a $7 charge. But imagine if I had bought a laptop at OfficeMax using Google Wallet!

    Since then Google Wallet now fails to add my credit cards to my phone after a system update. I escalated the case 10 weeks ago, but support has been non-responsive. I’ve even re-escalated the case 3 weeks ago and still haven’t heard anything outside of “buy a new phone”

    Hard to trust my money with a company that doesn’t know what customer service is all about. I’ll stick to swiping my credit card, where any problems are dealt with immediately and not whenever they feel like it.

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