For a while now, Google has been bribing people into installing Google Wallet on their smartphones, giving out a free $10 to some who activate the app. Now, it seems customers might want to go ahead and spend that money quickly.
Google announced today that it will be ending the Google Prepaid Card within the Google Wallet app. The company stated that the reason for the change is that customers can now add any credit or debit card to Google Wallet.
Starting on September 17, users will no longer be able to add funds to the prepaid card or add new prepaid cards to the app. In addition, resetting the Wallet app will cause the prepaid card to be removed. On October 17, the prepaid card will disappear from Wallet and users will not be able to spend any money they had stored on it. Google has also changed the terms and conditions for the prepaid card. Where a $2 fee was applied monthly after 180 days of inactivity, now that time period has shrunk to 30 days.
Users who don’t spend their prepaid card balance by the cut-off date, or who are unaware of the impending deactivation can receive refunds. Google states that it will add information on how to receive a refund to this page on October 17. In the meantime, Google encourages those whose prepaid card disappears after an app reset to contact Money Network, the servicer of Google Prepaid Cards, to receive a refund.