Niyo: Effortless & Secure- Banking | Investment | Travelling

• 7 June 2020 | 1935 Views | By

NiYO is a Bengaluru-based Fintech startup founded in 2015 with the mission to empower users to take charge of their personal finances. NiYO started out by creating solutions targeted at salaried employees to make the most out of their salary but today they have grown into a full-blown Fintech company offering an array of products and solutions to cater to the needs of the contemporary Indian consumer as well as modern organizations. The NiYO App has a rating of 4.8 and their NPS Score of 80+ signaling towards their commitment to customer experience and service. 

To experience the world of NiYO Banking and products you can open a NiYO IDFC First Savings Bank account, or avail one of their cards – NiYO Global or NiYO Bharat. As a part of its organizational tie-ups NiYO provides a card for employee benefit management – NiYO YES Bank Prepaid Card and through NiYO SME by addressing the concerns of modern organizations with a unique combination of HR and Tech.

What is NiYO account?

A NiYO account is a digital bank account provided by NiYO in partnership with IDFC First Bank. This account comes loaded with features like industry-best interest rate, instant account opening, international platinum debit card, and zero-fee withdrawal from any ATM. Every NiYO account holder has the NiYO Mobile Application which makes the banking process simpler, smarter, transparent, and more efficient than traditional banking. The NiYO App also provides investment suggestions in both national as well as international markets. 

NiYO launched its next-gen forex card, called the “NiYO Global Card” earlier in 2019. It is a one-of-its-kind Forex card in the sense that global travelers using this card do not pay any currency exchange premium and/or international transaction fees, thereby making international transaction cost-effective. Having partnered with more than 150 countries and more than 50 million merchants worldwide, this card eliminates the need for other regular multi-currency forex cards or travelers’ cheques. The NiYO Global card also offers seamless digital on-boarding and convenient fund loading from the user’s bank account(s) using NEFT/IMPS/UPI without any charges.

The card comes with a cutting-edge mobile app that helps users in card/fund management, finding nearest ATMs, availing nearby offers, submitting claims on-the-go, receiving instant approvals from their employers for submitted claims, and much more. The best thing about the NiYO Global card is that there are no charges at all – joining, renewal, ATM withdrawal, fund upload, even foreign currency markup fees. Thus by using a NiYO card a foreign traveler can easily save around 4% on currency markups. The card comes with pretty generous spending and withdrawal limits which will suit most international travelers. The NiYO Global card can be used both in India as well as abroad making it extremely useful.

Is NiYO card safe?

Unlike other Forex cards that are difficult to get issued, require visiting a bank branch for top-ups, or make transaction tracking a challenging process, this card is comparatively very inexpensive, convenient, and secure. Since this card is NEVER linked to any of your bank accounts, the risk is limited to the balance in your NiYO Wallet. For higher security, this card comes with an embedded chip which makes it impossible to clone.

The NiYO mobile app offers the facility to lock and unlock your card at any time along with channel-wise locking for online purchasing security. You can even change your ATM PIN whenever you want. Moreover, if your card is ever stolen, you can use your mobile app to block the card instantly. Thus, apart from its in-built robust security, there are multiple levers for ensuring the safety of your NiYO Card through the NiYO App.

What are the requirements to get NiYO card?

While there are no elaborate requirements to get this card, it can only be issued to Indian Citizens holding a valid PAN Card, Aadhar Card, and a Passport. Not only is the NiYO Card loaded with a unique feature, it is really easy to use as well. Here’s how it works:

Apply online for NiYO card through their website and complete the KYC formalities (e-KYC). Once verified, the card will be issued to you almost immediately on behalf of DCB Bank. However, due to unexpectedly high demand for the card, currently they are wait-listing new users.

To start using the card you have to deposit money in the NiYO Card. The first time it needs to be done through net banking, but subsequent top-ups can easily be done through IMPS/NEFT/UPI/Net –banking or other forms of mobile banking.

Where can NiYO card be used?

You are all set to use your NiYO card almost anywhere in the world where this Visa Card is accepted. It is just like a visa Debit Card which gives you access to global POS, international ATMs, multi-currency transactions, and nation as well as international online transactions.

How Do MasterCard and Visa Work?

The benefit of using a NiYO card is that there is no flat fee or exchange fee (like other forex cards). Also, there is no hassle of loading different currencies as you can simply upload INR currency and use it directly for international transactions.

For instance, you are visiting the US and you load INR in your NiYO Card. When your card is wiped for $10 at a registered POS, the equivalent INR amount will be deducted from your card. So, if the dollar exchange rate is 70 then INR 700 will be deducted from your balance without any exchange, advance mark-up or other fees

The card offers an array of great features such as you can temporarily lock/unlock your card, check exchange rates in real-time, check and update balances, review transactions, find nearby ATMs, and much more just a click away.

You can easily access OTPs with their WhatsApp support and e-mail notifications, so there is no hassle of receiving OTP on international sim cards.

Another advantage of the NiYO card is that there is no ATM Withdrawal fee in India. However, for international withdrawals and balance inquiries, there are no transaction fees for the first time. From the second transaction onwards, International cash withdrawal draws a fee of INR 100 + GST, and international balance inquiry at ATMs draws a fee of INR 50 + GST.

Drawback of the NiYo Card

The only drawback of the NiYO card is that payments get settled by the merchant after 2 days thus resulting in that day’s exchange prices being deducted and balance being modified accordingly. To understand this better, let’s take the same example where you spend $10 or effectively INR 700. IF after 2 days, the new dollar exchange rate is INR 69 then you will get (700-690 =) INR 10 back in your account. Similarly, the amount may be debited from your account if the dollar value appreciates in these 2 days.

How do I transfer money from my NiYO card to my bank account?

Every NiYO account corresponds to an Account Number and IFSC code displayed in the app. The transfer of unused funds back to your bank account can be done using common internet banking options.

What is the validity of NiYO card?

The NiYO Card is valid for up to 5 years from the issue date. There are credit and spending limits on the NiYO Global Card, which are available for users’ knowledge on the mobile app as well as the welcome Kit. The Spending limits on the DCB Global NiYO Card are listed below:

*ATM withdrawal limit for UAE is INR 50,000 (Daily), INR 1,00,000 (Daily) and INR 2,00,000 (Yearly)

Which forex card is best?

While NiYO Global Card is a fantastic option for foreign travelers, there are other good Forex cards that you can look at such as Thomas Cook Forex Card, ICICI Bank Single Currency Forex Card, HDFC Multicurrency Platinum Forex Card, YES Bank Multi-currency Travel Forex Card, Axis Bank Multi-currency forex card, and a few others. However, given that NiYO is an INR forex card and has no issuance fee or merchant transaction fees, it is the most convenient and inexpensive option for the Indian Global Citizens. 

Where can NiYO card be used?

Just like the Global card, NiYO also offers a lifetime zero balance, prepaid card for blue-collar employees called the Bharat Card. This card also comes with its accompanying NiYO App that offers various features such as instant money transfer to any bank account, one-click transfer to other NiYO Customers, a 50% advance salary, and many more.

In addition to these features, NiYO Bharat also provides an option to invest in gold, invest in mutual funds, recharge/pay bills, and to avail a “family card” to share these benefits with your loved ones. By providing simple, smart, secure, and transparent banking, the NiYO Bharat card puts the average Indian in control of his/her finances. The spending limits for the NiYO Bharat card are mentioned below:

Maximum allowed account balance at any point = INR 1,00,000

All in all, the NiYO cards have been well accepted by the Global as well as local Indian consumers. The Global Card simplifies forex transactions to a great extent making it their hero product. Given the zero processing fees associated with transactions of this card, there seems no reason to skip an opportunity to use this card. Moreover, the ability to transfer excess funds back to a user’s bank account acts as the cherry on the top. No doubt, NiYO has such a huge surge of incoming requests that they had to pause even their waitlist.