Google's Wallet-powered peer-to-peer payment service launched to rival Paypal was announced on May 15th and came with an interesting promotion: waived fees for transfers funded by credit cards. This promotion was recently (possibly today) adjusted quite drastically, and now only paymentsless than $250 aren't charged fees. Additionally, we now know that the promotional period ends onJune 29th.
Left: terms before; Right: current terms
Typically, credit card-funded transfers are charged a fee of 2.9% with a minimum of $0.30, but for a previously undefined "limited time," Google decided to foot the bill in hopes of attracting initial users. I have participated in this promotion myself and had some less than favorable experiences, but I'll save this rant for another day (and what a rant it will be).
Considering the limits of $10,000 per transaction and $50,000 per 5-day period, this promo opened doors for essentially fee-free cash advances and has quickly become a target of various deal-finders roaming the Internet. Having read a few pages of that thread, I suspect the promotion, which was viewed as a great deal, has been exploited heavily for the purposes of racking up credit card points and miles, so it makes sense for Google to try to limit it to transactions below $250. I'm actually quite surprised they let it ride this long and launched it with virtually no limits at all.
Credit card-funded transfers of $250 or less continue to enjoy a no-fee promotional period until June 29th. The fee only starts to accumulate after the initial $250.
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