Near-field communication (NFC) technology enables a consumer to wave their smartphone at a point-of-sale terminal to buy through the use of a "digital wallet." One of the fast-growing instances of the digital wallet is the appropriately called Google Wallet, but it pays to know a little bit about how it really works before you jump in to the cashless (and cardless) retail revolution.
Set up an account
To begin, go to the Google Wallet site to set up an account. Then, download the Google Wallet application to your compatible mobile phone. Connection your credit and debit cards to the account, and designate a preferred card. Then you can use Google Wallet to pay at stores where hardware that can accept digital wallet payments is present.
Purchase with your cell phone
Google Wallet works by assigning the customer a virtual MasterCard account number. The account number is used to draw funds from your credit or debit card of choice, be it Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover. When used offline, the virtual MasterCard number is the one used by the merchant except in rare cases involving Citi MasterCard, then the preferred card is charged later. Online purchases charge the preferred card directly.
You can keep thieves from stealing your account data by using a virtual number rather than a real one. On top of that, the information for the card is stored with the number rather than with your cell phone. Google Wallet can then deactivate on the phone and wipe all info from the app if you report your phone stolen.
Leaving without your credit card
With any service that aspires to take the place of conventional cash-in-hand payments, there will be the question of whether you can leave the house without it. Google Wallet makes it simple to leave without having to make sure that you are carrying all of your charge cards, and that's a big part of the current trend toward a cashless society. But you'll still need your wallet for things like you driver's license, or at least until they find a way to digitize that. And not all merchants are on board with services like Google Wallet, although it's only a matter of time.
Set up an account
To begin, go to the Google Wallet site to set up an account. Then, download the Google Wallet application to your compatible mobile phone. Connection your credit and debit cards to the account, and designate a preferred card. Then you can use Google Wallet to pay at stores where hardware that can accept digital wallet payments is present.
Purchase with your cell phone
Google Wallet works by assigning the customer a virtual MasterCard account number. The account number is used to draw funds from your credit or debit card of choice, be it Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover. When used offline, the virtual MasterCard number is the one used by the merchant except in rare cases involving Citi MasterCard, then the preferred card is charged later. Online purchases charge the preferred card directly.
You can keep thieves from stealing your account data by using a virtual number rather than a real one. On top of that, the information for the card is stored with the number rather than with your cell phone. Google Wallet can then deactivate on the phone and wipe all info from the app if you report your phone stolen.
Leaving without your credit card
With any service that aspires to take the place of conventional cash-in-hand payments, there will be the question of whether you can leave the house without it. Google Wallet makes it simple to leave without having to make sure that you are carrying all of your charge cards, and that's a big part of the current trend toward a cashless society. But you'll still need your wallet for things like you driver's license, or at least until they find a way to digitize that. And not all merchants are on board with services like Google Wallet, although it's only a matter of time.
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