Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
Google is improving visibility of Wallet’s international transfer tools by starting to surface them in Search.
Buy-now-pay-later options are expanding from Google Pay to Chrome autofill.
Chrome is starting to show reward details for a whole lot more credit cards.
Google has long grown beyond being a simple search company, and at this point its interests are so vast and varied that it can be more than a little difficult to cleanly categorize it. Those roles include plenty that you might not immediately associate with Google at first blush, but take a moment to think over the details, and they quickly start making perfect sense. Between Pay and Wallet, Google is clearly in the fintech business, and today we’re leaning about a few new ways Google hopes to improve how we spend money, borrow money, and send money.
Lots of us save our card info in Chrome to help streamline payments, but if you’re juggling multiple cards, it may not always be intuitive when checking out which card makes the most sense to use for a give purchase. Last May, Google introduced a new feature in Chrome that let you view the rewards that applied to your cards, helping you maximize benefits. That sounded like a fantastic idea, but was initially limited to cards from just a couple institutions.
Now Google shares that Chrome support for showing your cards’ rewards is greatly expanding, supporting over 100 different ones. We haven’t seen a full list yet, so be sure to check for yourself to see if yours are among the new ones that work.
Another ability that was rolling out around the same time was Google Pay’s support for helping connect shoppers with small loans for some buy-now-pay-later action. That initially worked with financing through Affirm and Zip, and last fall we heard that Google was adding options for Afterpay and Klarna. Now Google’s expanding that from Pay checkout to also work with Chrome when you autofill your card info — initially with Affirm and Zip, just like before, with Afterpay and Klarna, and others joining later.
Finally, we’re getting an update on Google Wallet’s ability to help you send funds internationally. Eligible US residents have been able to help support friends and family abroad by sending money to India, Mexico, Brazil, or the Philippines. You just enter in how much you want to send, view exchange rates, and choose the partner company whose fees make the most sense to you.
That sounds really handy, but you might not know the option was even there unless you’re a big Wallet user. To help improve visibility, you’ll soon start seeing this option also turn up when just looking up currency conversions in Google Search.
Look for all these new and improved financial tools to be rolling out soon.
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