Google pay charged non-default credit card
 

My wife just used Google Pay in two stores. Her default credit card is a Chase card, with an Amex also authorized. The first charge went through on the Chase. For the second store, the Amex was charged. She did not change the default and it's still Chase.

Does Google Pay roll over to a secondary card if the default glitches? If not, what could be going on here?

Was the app open to the AmEx when tapping? My experience has been that it always uses the default card if the app isn't in the foreground.

She did have the app open, so that could have been it. OTOH, she says she usually has the app open and it has always used the default app.

I can't answer your question, but if you and your wife use Google Pay for lots of purchases, you might want to look into getting a US Bank Altitude Reserve Visa card to earn 4.5% back on mobile-wallet purchases. ;)

Not a bad idea, but we'd have to be US Bank customers. It might be worth it if more hotels allowed Google Pay.

I've never seen that happen in all of my years of using the various Google Pay apps. If you have the app open to any card and you tap it, it will push the purchase to that account. She may have accidentally left the AMEX up on the app and tapped it.

This is the intended behavior, but I've definitely had it use a non-default card for a second purchase made shortly after the first even with something else in the foreground. I think this is a bug that may have been fixed, because when I select a different card and then open another app, Google Pay now re-selects the default card when it's brought back to the foreground, which it didn't used to do.

OP's wife may have inadvertently swiped over to the other card while moving the phone towards the terminal if she had the app open, though--it's easy to do. There's no need to open the app at all if you want to use the default card--as long as the phone is unlocked, it'll work.

All "travel" purchases made with the Altitude Reserve card also qualify for 4.5%, even if not made with mobile wallet. Hotel stays count as "travel" for the AR.

Aha. I was confused by seeing 3% on https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/...edit-card.html

Am I reading correctly, that I can book travel directly, then Real-Time Mobile Rewards lets me pay at 1.5 cents/point (3x points makes that 4.5%)? Do I have to pay the entire amount with points or can I do part cash part points?

I can follow-up in https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cred...erve-card.html if these questions don't have simple answers.

Thanks!

I asked about the 4.5% in the USB thread and got confirmation of my understanding. See https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31811663-post1020.html and the responses.