A Budget Debit Card

Feedback & Ideas
24

This is more challenging than launching a debit card. :pleading_face:

1 Like
25

I can imagine - if it wasn’t I suspect it would already be done :wink:

1 Like
26

Prepaid, but something like hyperjar? The preallocated spending bonus is a decent seller for us, and you have a much greater userbase!

1 Like
27

What’s the bonus?

28

Preallocate (pay now) some funds to a jar of or a specific planned retailer and when you (buy later) get a (percentage) bonus discount/cash back.

Also, having kids debit cards linked to the account would be amazing. It’s how we’ve been doing pocket money during lockdown and it’s been a lifesaver.

1 Like
29

I wouldn’t be interested if the only benefit is getting transactions in Emma immediately. Most of my spend is on Amex for the points, it would need to have something like cashback to make it better financially which I doubt is feasible. It would also have to justify the inconvenience of having to fund it rather than just having funds available in my current account / credit limit available on the credit card like I do permanently.

Not being able to edit pending transactions is a minor annoyance but I don’t think it’s a big deal. I just check the app regularly and edit them when they’re editable. :man_shrugging:

2 Likes
30

I guess we need to build a credit card. :see_no_evil:

31

I can’t imagine why I’d need this. There are so many other cards on the market with many more and better features than simply “it will display in Emma faster” - I can’t say refresh speed has ever been enough of a concern for me that I’d want to add yet another account into the mix and have a less fully-featured card. I think it would be a mistake that splits your team’s focus and muddies the purpose/equity of your app.

4 Likes
33

I didn’t say we are building it. :wink:

It’s definitely interesting and there will be a time where we’ll launch a product like this.

If we were US only, it would have made sense from a revenue perspective, but in the UK, we can make very little from the interchange fee, about 0.20%.

34

There are already a few interesting projects that could compete or collaborate on this.

dozens is apparently building an Open Banking platform with Bud (I think it’s Bud), which will allow potential customers to use the dozens budgeting features with existing accounts, then tempt them over to dozens.

Hyperjar is working on an Open Banking project with Saltedge too.

I would prefer to see Emma develop closer links to products like dozens and Hyperjar, which could include instant notifications. Like others above, I don’t see how Emma can provide enough added value just from a debit card.

If you had promoted third party card providers specialising in specific areas, like zero budgeting etc, that could be very interesting.

2 Likes
35

Yes,

It’s not feasible for us to implement instant notifications if we don’t own the infrastructure.

But again, we’ll see how it goes. :eyes:

36

What offers would you put in an Emma-branded debit card? We could launch this in less than six weeks.

37

Do you mean retailer-specific offers?

I suppose cashback / rewards points on every transaction (regardless of retailer) is not an option?

38

You’re not gonna beat 3% on all transactions from Crypto.com. I think you guys should focus on getting the exchange features up instead.

39

That requires a 180 day stake of £3k worth of CRO and therefore considerable risk. The risk-free tier (no stake) only pays 1%. In any case people interested in crypto are still a minority. So lots of people won’t be interested in cryptoback cards.

Could also make an argument that rewards credit cards aren’t for everyone, so even though an Emma debit card would be unlikely to beat an Amex in terms of rewards that may not be relevant.

So question might be whether the remaining market (those not interested in cryptoback or credit cards) is worth going after and whether Emma could create a compelling card for this market.

40

Maybe I’m the wrong market for this. I just don’t see people dropping their current cards just to have instant budgeting options in Emma. I’ve never found that particular feature useful anyway. It’s not smart enough for me yet to distinguish between what I’m actually spending money on and transactions between accounts. I’ve always used it more as a dashboard to glance what my current financial situation is. Updating it at least once a day for me is enough to do that.

If they’re also saying its expensive to get cards anyway, I imagine creating an expensive incentive scheme isn’t going to help.

1 Like
41

I was able to stake for the £3k card with the cro back I had from using the free card. Timing is important. The value of the staked CRO has been as low as 50% from when staked but doesn’t stop the stake being valid.

I can only see a card from Emma as a fall back if my CDC card doesn’t work, as with Banks it is always a good idea to have a fall back if systems fail.

42

I use this card full-time, but I don’t think the mass is looking for 3% back of CRO. :sweat_smile:

I’d also argue that their CRO supply will end at some point, so this scheme (like the chase one) is going to end.

1 Like