Does Google Pay Have Buyer Protection
The invention of NFC-based technologies has brought about a rise in technologies that aid contactless payment such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, etc. With the popularity that comes with NFC-based technologies, a lot of android users have drifted to using Google pay’s contactless payment feature to complete their payments which means a lot of these customers hope the payment system has a Buyer protection policy provided for them. To shed more light on this, I’ll be answering most users’ questions which is “Does Google Pay have buyer protection?”
Google pay is an electronic payment technology used to make payments and receive money, more like an intermediary between banks and users hence, the payment service doesn’t have buyer protection. Buyer protection is offered by banks, and insurance companies and not payment solutions like Google Pay.
In this piece, I’ll shed more light on the subject to know if Google Pay offers buyer protection and if not, why doesn’t Google pay have buyer protection. In addition, I’ll discuss ways in which Google Pay protects its users and if your bank will still offer you buyer protection even when you use Google Pay.
Does Google Pay Have Buyer Protection?
No, Google Pay does not offer buyer protection to its users. This is because Google Pay is majorly used as an intermediary between banks and users as an electronic payment service. The payment service is used to make and receive payments via its digital wallet.
Google Pay, formerly known as Android pay and styled as G Pay, is a platform that hosts a digital wallet and online payment system developed by Google with the aim to power in-app purchases, online payments, and in-person contactless payments on mobile devices.
Google Pay enables users to make payments with their Android devices, either mobile phones, tablets, or smartwatches. So if you’re one of those who fancy using the contactless payment feature, you don’t need to worry as Google pay has you covered.
With Google Pay’s digital wallet feature, it allows users to save their credit or debit card details on the wallet which is way more secure than carrying your cards everywhere in your wallet.
In fact, the payment service is said to be more secure than the popular swiping at point of sales terminals because with Google Pay, your card information remains safe but when you use a point of sales terminal, you’re at the risk of your card details being stolen.
So if you’re using an Android device, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be using Google pay, coupled with its contactless payment feature.
Google Pay also uses device-integrated security features found on the hardware and software of your device to protect your digital wallet and credit or debit card details stored in the wallet.
This means that before you can access the digital wallet or authorize a payment, you have to pass through the security measures stored on your phone and integrated by Google Pay. In other words, you may need your passcode, or biometrics like Touch ID or Face ID to complete your payments.
Why Does Google Pay Not Have Buyer Protection?
The major reason why Google Pay doesn’t have buyer protection is that it is just an intermediary between the banks or card issuers, and users.
This means that whenever a user makes a payment, it’s usually directly from the card and not from Google pay as a financial institution. Since Google Pay isn’t a financial institution providing payment services to users and issuing credit and debit cards, the platform doesn’t offer buyer protection.
Usually, when a user used their credit or debit cards for transactions, the card issuer or the bank where the card is issued usually already provides users with buyer protection so since Google Pay is just a digital wallet that helps users store these already protected cards and help users conveniently use them to complete their payments, there’s really no need for Google Pay to still offer buyer protection.
Lastly, since Google pay is just an intermediary, it doesn’t record the transactions in its database but only stores it as a history of transactions made via the platform. This means the money used to perform your transactions is directly removed from your bank account and not your Google pay account since your Google Pay account isn’t a bank account and Google Pay doesn’t offer bank services.
Will My Bank Or Card Issuer Still Offer Me Buyer Protection?
Your bank or card issuer will still offer you buyer protection irrespective of the platform you use to complete your transactions as long as the payment is done directly from your bank account and the record is pulled from your bank account. This means that since Google Pay is just an intermediary, it doesn’t stop your bank or card issuer from providing you with buyer protection.
As discussed earlier, Apple Pay isn’t directly involved with your banks as it only offers a platform to store your cards and make contactless payments from. Google Pay only aims to make purchases and payments easier for its users by creating the contactless payment feature via NFC technology.
So basically, Google Pay is just a walking digital wallet that helps you easily complete your payment with one of the cards stored on your wallet easily, conveniently, and faster while your bank provides you with buyer protection as indicated in their policies.
How Does Google Pay Protect Its Users?
Since Google Pay doesn’t provide buyer protection to its users, the platform offers a lot of other various ways to protect its users’ information from being stolen and also protect them from being scammed. Scammers may still try to break into your wallet to steal your details, this is where these Google securities come into play to keep its users safe. The following are the ways that Google protects its users:
Google Pay Hides Users’ Payment Details
The major way Google Pay protects you is by hiding your payment details which is a more secure way than using your debit or credit card to make your purchase or payments. Payments made with Google Pay are completed with tokens called “virtual card numbers” which help you hide your stored card details throughout the transaction, thereby protecting you from both fraudulent merchants and security breaches.
Google Pay Uses Device-based Security For Authorization
Before you can complete a payment using the Google Pay app, you need to use your phone lock’s security. This can be your PIN, passcode, or biometrics like Face ID or Touch ID.
If we compare this to using your card, google pay is more secure because once anybody gets access to your card, they can go on to use your card for any transaction since there’s no form of security stopping them.
In addition, if your android device doesn’t have a lock system, you won’t be able to use Google Pay because you will be prompted to create a security system so Google pay can integrate that lock system for authorization.
Google Pay Can Be Deleted Remotely
If your android device gets stolen, and the culprit somehow accesses your phone and breaks through your lock system, you can still protect your payment information.
Since Google Pay is connected to your Google Account, you can use the find my device feature to delete all the data stored on your Google Pay app remotely from your Google account.