Google's Pony Express

[pc747]

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One of the reasons I continue to get excited for Google (and concerned about Skynet) is that they are continuing to expand their services to make things better for the customer. Google wants to not only be your source for tv, wireless service, auto, cell phone manufacturer, netbook manufacturer, appliances, wallet, and insurance provider, but they also want to be your go to service to pay your bills. Pony Express is Google's project to allow you to pay your bills from your gmail. Google already uses Google Now to alert you of upcoming bills and with Google Wallet you can send money via gmail so it is just a matter of combining the service.

Source: Google Pony Express May Let You Receive Pay Bills Directly in Gmail Re code

 

[CJM]

Sounds like a good idea. But Google needs to up the amount I can transfer to my Wallet card. Seems $500 per month is the limit. Unless I link my bank account & I'm not interested in that atm

Tapped from a Nexus 6

 

[johnomaz]

Sounds like a good idea. But Google needs to up the amount I can transfer to my Wallet card. Seems $500 per month is the limit. Unless I link my bank account & I'm not interested in that atm

Tapped from a Nexus 6

Was gonna say...only 500? I know I've done more than that in a month. But I do link my bank account.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

While I can see this being quite handy, I wonder who's going to police the phishing scams. Personally, I never click a link in an email that says I owe someone money, even if it appears to be from my cable company, Verizon, or other creditors. Even if I KNOW that I have a bill coming due for that service. I either pay through my bank account, or launch my browser and go directly to that company's website.

We've already seen plenty of cases where someone fakes an email from a company that looks completely legit until you really start to dig into it. Who's liable in the case that one of these emails fools google into believing you need to pay this person if you don't catch their mistake and go ahead and send money to the wrong party?

I'm all for convenience, but I'm not sure I could be an early adopter for something like this, even if I only had a Google Wallet balance that it pulled from and not my bank account. My cheapest bill each month is still around $100 and I can't afford to send that $100 to an illegitimate collector and still be able to pay my real bill when the mistake is realized.