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ZestMoney Review

ZestMoney Review: The easiest way to buy things on EMI without a Credit or Debit Card?

ZestMoney is an Indian company founded by Priya Sharma, Lizzie Chapman, and Ashish Anantharaman in 2015 with a mission to make life easier and affordable for Indians. It is the largest and rapidly growing company that helps you break down your payments into 3 to 4 pocket-friendly parts with zero per cent (0%) interest.

What is ZestMoney?

ZestMoney is a platform that provides financial services using mobile tech, digital banking, and artificial intelligence to avail the services of EMI even to those Indians who do not have Credit or Debit cards.

It is their innovative technology that helps its customer to experience different brands and services while even managing their credits. It is ZestMoney’s work and technology that made the World Economic Forum select them as a technology pioneer in 2020.

ZestMoney vs Other Cards: What are the Advantages?

Over three hundred million people in India do not have the opportunity to buy and experience things due to their financial status and even though the EMI facility is available for many it is not for all.

Most people in India do not have access to credit cards or any other form of financial option to avail of such facilities due to their insufficient credit history.

Here are some reasons for choosing ZestMoney over any other alternative:

  • With zero interest in EMIs, it also has no joining fees or any hidden charges over your purchase and usage of this app.
  • You get your personalized plan and credit limit of up to 2 lakhs.
  • It has the fastest approval process with no extra paperwork or credit card needed to complete the formalities.
  • They are accepted in almost ten thousand online stores and eighty thousand retail stores.
  • It is an app that is not just trusted but loved by, over eleven million happy users and with 4.7 stars on the Play store.

Does ZestMoney affect your CIBIL?

ZestMoney is a lender to put it simply so yes, all the EMI payments made to ZestMoney get reported to CIBIL. Thus if you miss any payment for the EMI, there can be a decline in your CIBIL score.

Remember, timely payments of your EMI will always have a positive impact on your CIBIL score.

Installed ZestMoney: How to activate ZestMoney?

The activation process of Zest is quite easy and can be done without getting up from your seat even once for any documents or paperwork.

Let us see how to do it together:

  1. The very first step for availing these facilities for yourself, is to download the app.
  2.  Once you’ve downloaded the app, ZestMoney will verify your number by sending an OTP to your phone and then ask for your email address.
  3. The third step is to provide them with permissions like SMS, phone calls and your location (which can also be skipped)
  4. The next step is to add your PAN card, which gives them the authority to check your credit information and deal with the formalities of KYC.
  5. The last step is to set up your repayment option (adding your bank) -voila you’re set.

ZestMoney’s payment methods

ZestMoney has made everything available for its users, online. Any user can pay for anything on their cart using the Zero EMI options from ZestMoney using the completely online payment methods with their own choice of EMI plan made available to you by their tie-up brands or partners.

Where can I make payments using ZestMoney Card?

ZestMoney has over eight thousand partners and it is only these brands or sites that will provide you the opportunity for EMIs.

These partners cover all the main five domains of our lives i.e., Fashion, Home, Travel, Gadgets and Edtech.

They have brands like Amazon, MI, One Plus, Boat, Pee safe, Makemytrip, Yatra, Nykaa, Pepe Jeans, Croma, Lee, Decathlon, Wrangler, Buildin, iPhone, Purple, Titan, Cuemath, Udacity, Simplilearn, Uber, UpGrad, Lifestyle, Sleepyhead, Fabindia, Big Bazaar, Allen Solly, FBB, VanHeusen, etc.

ZestMoney allows you to make payments directly on the websites

Once you’ve signed in and got your credit limit approved / activated, you’ve already come halfway to paying for your items. All you got to do after this is, shop for whatever that your heart desires, just select ZestMoney EMI as your payment method on checkout. You will immediately be presented with a few EMI plans to choose from. Once you select a plan at your convenience, it will be sent for approval, which won’t take much time. As soon as the approval comes along, your order will be placed successfully and smoothly.

However, it is to be understood that this can be done only on the brands or sites that are a partner with ZestMoney, moreover the steps may change a little according to the site you are working with.

Is ZestMoney a good platform to get a card from?

ZestMoney is an amazing platform that makes it possible for anyone from any class to experience its life with all the things they wish to have in it. They have made the process of EMI easy and customer friendly for over 300 million Indian citizens who do not have credit or debit cards.

UNI card: it is worth applying for?

UNI card review: Is It Worth Applying for?

UNI card is a new way to get credit on your monthly spending by paying your bills in 3 months in 3 parts. It also gives a 1% cashback if you pay your bills at once.

Now you might be wondering if you should apply for this card or not, but before we decide that let us just dig a little deeper into what the UNI card is?

What is a UNI card?

Nitin Gupta, the founder, and CEO of UNI card has designed of its kind payments cards that lets you pay in 3 parts of all your monthly spending. It is said to be a unique, powerful, and pocket-friendly card.

It is easily applicable with no extra charges, not even a single penny. It is powered by Visa and has RBL and SBM as its banking partners which makes it almost 99.99% accepted in all the merchants anywhere in India.

You may want to check ZestMoney Review: How to buy Things on EMI without any Credit or Debit Card? as well.

How UNI card works?

The bill gets generated after every 30 days and lets you decide if you wish to pay it all at once or divide it into 3 months.

Now to tell you how it works, let us take an example.

Imagine that your monthly bill was around 1500 rupees. So now you will get to decide if you wish to pay it all at once or divide it into 3 parts.

Now, if you decide to pay immediately you get a 1% cashback on your entire bill. However, if you decide on the latter option you get to pay 500 rupees per month.

How to apply for a UNI card?

The procedure of applying for a UNI card is divided into 3 parts after downloading the app which are as follow:

1.Check eligibility criteria of UNI cards – In this first part, your eligibility for this card is checked which gets started with verifying your phone number and email id. Once that is out of the way, you are asked to add your pin code and then your pan card number, name, and date of birth according to the pan card.

After this, you are left with only three things i.e., your gender, marital status, and employment type and with that your eligibility part is complete.

Once you get your eligibility approved, you show your credit score and tell you the limit. Moreover, they also inform you if you are eligible for the 1/3rd UNI card or the 1/2nd UNI card.

2. Complete your KYC – For KYC they ask you to give your Aadhar card number, the phone number that is linked to your account and your father’s name.

After this, they ask you to take a full-faced clear selfie and then show you your Aadhar card, which means your KYC is done.

3. Get the Card – Once you’ve reached this part, all you got to do is add your address and wait for your card to be delivered.

With a UNI card, you get both a digital card and a physical one. Once you complete your steps till the end you will automatically be provided with a digital card that can be used for payments that are both online and offline.

Limited period offer on UNI card

They have a limited period offer where the entirety of the card application and usage is free. This means that there will be no joining or annual chargers however it is a limited period offer only for early customers.

Something UNI card is planning on: Upcoming deals and offers

UNI pay has two big plans that are still in the process of making, and these two things are Scan & Pay and longer EMI plans.

Scan & Pay 

Currently, the UNI card does not have the feature that lets you scan and pay through your credit line at your favorite stores and sites.

Split the bill longer 

At the moment only a 3-month EMI plan is available, but UNI card is working on making 6, 9, 12, and even 18+ months EMI plans for its customers.

How UNI card makes money?

The primary earnings of UNI is through the revenue it gets from merchant partners and from the interest that is charged to its customers in EMIs.

The secondary earnings are from the failure of EMI payments from the customer.

Why is UNI card loved by many?

UNI card is loved by many and there are a lot of reasons for it. Which are: –

  1. Transparent: – UNI card is quite transparent with its customers with all the features and conditions that they provide.
  2. Great user experience: – It is a delightful experience for its customers with over 99% acceptability in all the online and offline merchants and sites that accept a credit or debit card.
  3. Easy onboarding: – The process of applying and starting your journey with a UNI card is very easy and short.
  4. Excellent customer services: – Unlike other credit apps or cards such as Dhani, Slice or Lazypay; UNI card’s customer services are top-notch. Moreover, they provide customer service not just on via emails but also via WhatsApp.
  5. 1/3rd and 1/2nd payment method: – UNI card lets you divide your bills into parts of 3 at no cost at all.
  6. Great flexibility: – It offers its customers a lot of flexibility which means if you miss a payment, they do not charge you anything apart from a late payment fee.

Things to remember before you apply for a UNI card!

Although the UNI card is loved there are quite a few drawbacks that just can’t be ignored.

These are as follows.

  1. No foreign Transactions: – UNI card is not like many other cards that give the chance to transfer, especially internationally.
  2. No withdrawal: – This card does not provide you with withdrawal services which act as a huge drawback for many users.
  3. No wallets: – UNI does not let your load wallets like Paytm, google pay, etc.
  4. Low reward rate: – UNI card offers 1% reward cashback which is compared to banks that offer up to 5% on repayments, moreover this reward is only awarded if you pay your bill all at once.
  5. Hefty late payment fees: – If you forget to pay even a single installment then your late fee is 2.5 times double the amount you might have to pay on other standard credit cards.
  6. Only 3 months: – UNI only provides 2-3 months of EMI plan and nothing more than that, although the plans to extend the duration are still in process.
  7. No use accounts: – If you do not use your card for almost 6 months then UNI can automatically block your card which seems like quite a short duration considering that most of the people who apply for a credit card are for emergencies only.

UNI card VS Slice 

Both UniCard and Slice have their own merits and demerits. Let us compare the two cards together.

Even though both the UNI card and Slice are free to join with no annual fee, Slice is better than the UNI card in a few aspects.

While the UNI card offers a 1% cashback, Slice offers the double. Moreover, Slice offers additional offers for savings named Slice Spark whereas UNI currently has no additional offers for their customers yet.

Conclusion

So now coming back to the question, should you apply for a UNI card?

It is to be understood that the UNI card is one of its kind, but it is not a fully functional primary card or even a credit card at all.

It can just be considered as a prepaid card that if you wish to can keep as an extra card but would not suggest it if you’re looking for a proper functioning card because this card is still working and could use some workup.

UNI cards are BNPL cards.

If you are a beginner and are looking for an easy to use and apply for card then a UNI card is just for you, however, if you are someone who has experience with how these things work then you might find UNI card somewhat of a low quality than many other cards that offer these facilities.

This is just a personal review on the UNI card and is not to undermine or manipulate anyone into not applying for it. The facts are in front of you, the final decision is going to be yours even if you decide to apply for it or not.