Discover Adds Support for Google Wallet

Discover Financial Services now allows consumers to link Discover cards to Google's mobile wallet from Discover's website.

"By offering the ability to join Google Wallet through our Account Center (website), Discover is providing our cardmembers with even greater flexibility and convenience when it comes to paying for their purchases," Sanjay Gosalia, Director of Mobile at Discover, said in a press release Aug. 16.

The agreement goes a step beyond what Google announced Aug. 1 in allowing consumers to add any Discover, Visa, MasterCard or American Express card as a primary account to fund purchases from the mobile wallet. Under that arrangement, consumers — not issuers — choose which cards get linked to Google Wallet. Until Discover's announcement, Citigroup was Google's only announced issuer partner.

Discover's approach is in stark contrast to how rival American Express responded to Google Wallet. After Google announced Amex as an option for its mobile wallet, Amex protested the news, saying it did not have an agreement in place with Google to allow Amex cards as a payment option.

Google's new method of enrolling cards does not require issuers to agree to be a part of the mobile wallet. However, if issuers choose to partner with Google, they can add their own card art and other details for consumers to see as they link cards to Google Wallet.

"We're excited to partner with Discover to make it even easier for cardmembers to pay for their purchases," said Robin Dua, head of product management for Google Wallet, in a press release. "By providing a simple way for cardholders to securely add their credit card to Google Wallet directly from the Discover website, we're extending the opportunity to pay with Discover through Google Wallet at hundreds of thousands of merchants."