Google forays into credit card business

Businesses in the UK are getting the chance to be first in the world to obtain a Google credit card.

Google Adwords Business Credit Card as it is called, is expected to be a tool the company hopes small business would take to, to  rack up big bills for online ads they don't have the cash to fork out for at the time of purchase, according to Brent Callinicos, Google's treasurer who spoke to the Financial Times.
 
He added Google's smaller customers were not buying Adwords as much as they needed and he hoped the credit card would help cash-strapped customers keep their online ad presence at an appropriate level by using the card

According to Google, the card's interest rate of 11.9 per cent was ''low''and that the offer represented ''generous'' terms. However, a 2.99 per cent "non-sterling transaction fee" meant users needed to take care when making multi-nation ad purchases.

The card would not be open for everyone, which according to Google could only be applied for with an application ID issued with an invitation.

The UK is the first nation which would get to use the Google's credit card, with the US and other nations set to follow suit, but Google has not given any time frame for the other launches.

According to theFinancial Times, Google's decision to go for its own credit card, which will also be made available in the US and other unspecified countries later, comes as the first effort by the company to use its huge cash reserves to support its core search advertising business by subsidising low-interest rate credit lines.