It wasn't too long after the no cash policy hit my country, Nigeria, and we were left with no choice but to rely on mobile bank apps for any transaction or go queue at the bank with the population of bank customers that could make up a village, at the end of the day, you can't have access to the amount of money you need or worst still, coming back home with bruises and body pains, still no cash.
It was and still is a very trying moment, a lot of families starved, and some medical bills were left unpaid due to this new cashless policy brought upon us. People who had no interest in using mobile apps before like the elderly or some uneducated fellow had no other choice than to learn how to make transactions with them, then the woe continued, the mobile bank apps owned by commercial/traditional banks were not fast and reliable, it could take a week for a transaction to be successful, sometimes the money ends up bouncing back to the sender, Which made a lot of business owners reject transfer as a means of payment. Amid the crises, something really helpful and reliable came to our rescue, The online banking apps.
- They are fast in making transaction, in seconds, transaction went through.
- They didn't require any paper work to open the account, just your proof of identification.
- They had lots of huge percentages for every transaction you make compared to the traditional banks that instead rip you off.
- They are easy to open, you don't need visiting the bank, they are digital banks, all you need is your mobile phone and a data connection.
I couldn't contain my joy after coming to the knowledge of these digital banks, I made sure to help people around me, especially the elderly petty traders who were not able to make sales due to no cash, always going back home empty handed and most times slept with empty stomach.
Online banking came to our rescue and the fun part was that our mobile number happens to be our account number, we don't have to memorize new sets of numbers.
The only disadvantage is that since they had no physical branch we could walk into for complain, I advised the traders not to deposit high sums of amount in the app, just liquid funds they could do away with to make life easier for them. I wasn't a professional financial advisor after all, just a caring and helpful citizen.