The U.S. consumer watchdog, not usually known to side with Wall Street lenders, has handed them a rare win by cracking down on Big Tech companies that are increasingly encroaching on banking turf.
At one point google did have a service with a physical card and since they were essentially a cash app where you had a digital wallet of funds held by google in app (they way you would if you were paid via paypal etc), they were in fact issuing cards and holding consumer money similarly to a bank. That trend didn’t pan out for google, but, my understanding is that Apple has a similar service now (Though it’s actually a credit card backed by Goldman Sachs).
I’m not disputing your points which I believe are valid. That money had to be transferred from a bank to paypal or google or apple, but in all cases a bank transaction was included and therefore oversight from the CFPB. I do wonder if this is a preventative measure given the rise in cash apps and fraud using them.
At one point google did have a service with a physical card and since they were essentially a cash app where you had a digital wallet of funds held by google in app (they way you would if you were paid via paypal etc), they were in fact issuing cards and holding consumer money similarly to a bank.
I don’t recall the specific partner(s) off the top of my head but Google itself never issued cards or held customer deposits. Actual banks did.
At one point google did have a service with a physical card and since they were essentially a cash app where you had a digital wallet of funds held by google in app (they way you would if you were paid via paypal etc), they were in fact issuing cards and holding consumer money similarly to a bank. That trend didn’t pan out for google, but, my understanding is that Apple has a similar service now (Though it’s actually a credit card backed by Goldman Sachs).
I’m not disputing your points which I believe are valid. That money had to be transferred from a bank to paypal or google or apple, but in all cases a bank transaction was included and therefore oversight from the CFPB. I do wonder if this is a preventative measure given the rise in cash apps and fraud using them.
I don’t recall the specific partner(s) off the top of my head but Google itself never issued cards or held customer deposits. Actual banks did.
Thank you! It’s been a long time in tech years and I couldn’t remember the details.