PayPal Expands Home Depot Pilot, Adds Card Posted by AVCU on 4:18 PM

As a follow up to our report last week on Payal's payments system trial in select Home Depot stores, the online payments provider now expects to be in all Home Depot stores by March. A PayPal spokesperson says that they need to reach scale very quickly, otherwise it's payment system won't catch on as a merchant payment option.

Bank Technology News is reporting that PayPal will also offer consumers a card linked to their PayPal accounts. The card will be made available online. The Home Depot point of sale trial can be used with or without a card. If consumers choose not to use a card, they make PayPal payments at the point of sale using a phone number and PIN.

PayPal Home Depot pilot began with five stores. This week, it expanded to 51 stores on its way to nationwide coverage in March.

According to Bank Technology News, the new card will not function like a normal debit card. It will not have the user's name or account number printed on it. Instead, it will have encrypted data written to the magnetic stripe, used to provide access to funds via a link to PayPal. The card will have a rewards feature added by yearend.