Google is shutting off support for its Google Wallet debit card

By Nick Statt for the Verge

Google announced today it would no longer support its Wallet Card starting June 30th. The prepaid debit card, which launched back in November 2013, let you pay for things in person and online using your Wallet balance at any retailer that accepted MasterCard. It also let you withdraw money from ATMs. In an email sent to Wallet Card owners, Google says it wants “to focus on making it easier than ever to send and receive money with the Google Wallet app.”

For those with unactivated Wallet Cards, you can still activate the card and use it until the cutoff date. The Google Wallet mobile app still exists; Google repurposed it as a Venmo and Square Cash rival for peer-to-peer payments in September. However, you’ll no longer be able to add money to the account with a debit card or bank account. Money you receive from others will be added to any existing balance, and that amount can be used to pay your friends or it can be cashed out.

Essentially, Google is removing any and all features that let its Google Wallet service function as it did in the past. That makes sense, as Android Pay has become the company’s new platform for mobile in-store and in-app purchases. So a world where a debit card can be preloaded with cash from your computer no longer makes all that much sense.

the article first appeared in the verge