ST. LOUIS Vantage CU has rolled out Google Wallet a free digital wallet that allows people to use their phone to pay for goods and services at participating merchants for its members who use the Android smart phone.
Google Wallet is an Android app that the company says makes one’s smart phone a wallet. It securely stores virtual versions of Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover credit and debit cards, where consumers can access them at any time. People who have an NFC-enabled Android phone can use Google Wallet to pay anywhere contactless payments are accepted.
Google Wallet enables people to pay directly from the cards they have loaded into the digital wallet, without the need to present the physical card to the cashier at the time of purchase. Access to the Google Wallet and the cards is protected by a user created PIN. There are currently 200,000 merchants nationwide that accept contactless payments and this number is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years, according to the company.
