Google No Longer Grandfathering Android Pay Cards

Google is risking the ire of Android Pay users who do not have credit cards in their mobile wallets that are issued by supporting banks. The company is tightening up its Android Pay services and has announced that “grandfathered cards” will no longer be supported, according to 9to5Google.

Google Wallet users were initially allowed to “grandfather” or transfer any card from Wallet to Android Pay, even if it was not a supported bank. Android Pay has garnered more users, and there is less need to be so accommodating, which might explain the announcement that grandfathered cards will cease to be valid on Oct. 14.

Google Wallet was restricted from the outset in order to provide secure payments to consumers, and Android Pay relied on connections with supported banks, such as Chase, while excluding others. However, the company has not cited security as a reason for the recent revocation of grandfathering.

In fact, Google does not give a reason at all for the change. According to a communication to users, Google said: “When we launched Android Pay, we wanted to make sure you could continue using this card since you used it to tap and pay with the old Google Wallet. However, we were only able to support this for a limited time. We’ll let you know if VISA‑XXXX can be used with Android Pay again in the future.”

This could be a significant problem for users who are not affiliated with a supported bank, such as Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Discover or Wells Fargo.