I remember when I had to re-install it after doing a factory reset, I was able to go to the Google Play website from my phone (not the market app) and get the app through there. This was not using the trick of later switching back to the market app, it was all done through the website.
It won't show up in your list of downloaded apps, you have to switch to the "all" list, and if there's an update, it will say "update" instead of "installed".
I'm going to just stick to the prepaid Google card, since the new credit cards feature doesn't actually link to them, it just uses Google to charge the card for the same amount. Since most of my cards are cash back and category based, I'd probably lose out on the extra cash back if I don't use it directly at the location. Looks like they're getting worried about Isis.