Payday vs Chipper Cash: What you need to know before you choose

Significant changes have occurred in how individuals pay for goods and services, with cash increasingly replaced by electronic payment methods.

The African fintech ecosystem has seen monumental strides over the last few years in keeping with the pace and, in some cases, even leading innovation, as the influx of new investments and regulatory shifts continues to shape the e-payments landscape on the continent.

Africa’s domestic e-payments market is anticipated to see revenues grow by roughly 20% per year, reaching about $40 billion by 2025, thanks to banks and nonbank players innovating to reduce friction in domestic and cross-border payments and provide much-needed new solutions to consumers and businesses.

Chipper Cash and Payday are two platforms redefining finance and financial services in Africa. These fintech platforms facilitate peer-to-peer cross-border payment solutions for Africans from anywhere globally.

Founded in 2018 by co-founders Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled and headquartered in California, USA, Chipper Cash is a financial technology company that builds software to enable free and instant Peer-to-peer Cross-border payments in Africa and Europe – 8 countries specifically.

On the other hand, Payday, double dual-headquartered in Canada & Rwanda, is a financial technology company helping Africans send and receive money globally. Founded by Favour Ori and launched in 2021, it is a VC-backed startup on a mission to facilitate an inclusive, accessible & connected global financial system for Africans no matter where they are.

These two platforms have recently become the go-to companies for users who continually look for credible and reliable platforms to help them facilitate payments with certain requirements from anywhere in the world. They have similar offerings, and users often wonder which of the two they should use or if they should sign up for both.

Hence, we reviewed the two fintech platforms in this article – their ease of use, interface and unique offerings. We also checked out the reviews of the platforms by their users.

Read also; Palmpay vs Opay: What you need to know before you choose

Payday vs Chipper Cash – Signing up

First, you must download either platform from Google Play or the iOS App store. Most phones have the operating systems to operate these apps seamlessly (Android 5.0 and above).

To sign up for Chipper Cash, you must provide your email address and phone number. A special six-digit one-time code will be sent to verify your account.

After signing up, you are required to fill in your information – biodata and BVN, create a username, select the currency of the country you reside in and set a pin for your login.

Your BVN would need to be validated, which typically takes a few hours. You are then required to verify your identity using a government-issued identity card such as NIN (National Identity Number), Driver’s License, etc., to finish the procedure so you can access all the features on the app.

For the Payday app, once you have downloaded the app on your device, create an account by providing the necessary information, such as your name, email address and phone number. You can access all features by completing verification. This involves entering your phone number, BVN, or NIN and taking a selfie.

Signing up and verification on Payday can be completed in a few minutes compared to Chipper Cash which can take hours or a day.

Payday vs Chipper Cash – Interface, Security, ease of use

The two platforms have interactive interfaces with clearly labelled buttons to help direct users when executing their tasks. The homepage of the two platforms shows the account balance, recent transactions, and quick links to add funds to the wallets, buy airtime, send/receive money, etc.

Both platforms require users to input a security pin to access their account every time they sign in and to complete any transaction. Users can also enable biometric login, using their fingerprints or facial recognition to sign in, provided their phones allow these features.

Users can add funds seamlessly and instantly by linking their debit cards to their wallets. Similarly, the two platforms allow users to fund their accounts via bank transfers by providing traditional bank accounts with users’ names.

For this review, we discovered that using a debit card is the easiest means to fund your account, especially for Chipper Cash, as the bank transfer option using the assigned 9 Payment Service Bank is not seamless. PayDay’s bank transfer option using the assigned Wema Bank account was completed within 15 minutes, while the card option was instant for both platforms.

Features

Chipper Cash

Users get to enjoy free transfers and one of the lowest cross-border rates. Also, they can securely link any mobile money or bank account and cash in and out at no cost, this also involves no charges for withdrawing funds from the Chipper Card. Furthermore, users can use Chipper Cash to make instant bill payments. Paying bills is easy, secure, and can all be done anywhere.

Chipper Cash supports transactions in seven African countries – Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. You can send money to other users by inputting their unique usernames and the amount you wish to send. You can request funds from other users in the same manner.

The app access users’ contacts so that they send money to other users on their contact list. You can also invite other contacts who do not use the app.

The Chipper card, a virtual card which provides customers access to their money in various ways, gives them more financial flexibility. Like a traditional debit card, it enables customers to make payments online. Users can get a virtual dollar card AND a virtual Naira card

Payday

Payday offers a virtual USD, GBP, and EUR account, which provides a secure and convenient way to manage your money globally. In addition to its instant money transfer feature, the platform also offers virtual cards. The feature allows users to make online payments without revealing their personal banking information.

With Payday, users can exchange funds globally without border restrictions and enjoy fair exchange rates. Its borderless transactions ensure they can easily move money worldwide without worrying about conversion rates or hidden fees. 

What are Nigerians saying about the apps?

We are delighted to share with you the opinions of a few Nigerians we spoke to and who had the chance to use one or both platforms. Yet, a recurring theme among the Nigerians’ comments is that setting up a Payday account is faster than setting up a Chipper Cash account.

Having used both platforms, Dennis says, “I prefer Payday to Chipper Cash because of the rates. Chipper cash has ridiculously high rates.’

Our research found out that the Dollar- Naira rate on the Payday app was N758.7 to a Dollar, while the Dollar-Naira rate for the Chipper Cash is N800 to a dollar.

Cynthia, another Nigerian who has used both platforms, claims she has been having problems while funding her Dollar card, which is one of the many challenges of the platforms she sometimes encounters. “I have been trying to transfer money from my bank account to my Chpper cash wallet, and there have been delays. this is coupled with a disclaimer that the transaction would experience some delays, which I don’t want and care for.”

Damilola claims that Chipper cash has been experiencing some inconsistencies as against when he initially signed up, but now, he prefers Payday.

“As at 3 or 4 months ago when I initially tried getting one platform, I got to prefer Chipper because of the speed of transactions. However, in recent times PayDay has gotten better and has fairer rates when compared to Chipper Cash”

Damilola

Verdict

The two applications have provided solutions to long-standing remittance issues in Africa. On the Google play store, Chipper Cash scores 4.3/5, while PayDay scores 3.3/5. There are mainly positive reviews about the two platforms, and the few negative ones are about delayed transactions or a few bugs.

Our research found that many users familiar with the two platforms prefer PayDay at this time. Perhaps, because it is the newer of the two and recency bias is influencing their assessments.

There are complaints about the speed of Chipper Cash’s transactions, especially with withdrawals. The platform estimates that it would take almost 24 hours for the money sent from your wallet to reflect in your bank account. Although it informs users that it is aware that withdrawals are taking longer than necessary, users will not be encouraged.

The time it takes to complete registration and verification is also a turnoff for customers. and the conversion rate of $1 to Naira is relatively high compared to its competitors. However, access to contacts makes sending and receiving cash from friends and family easier.

Payday is currently the winner regarding speed and efficiency in their processes. Also, its virtual USD, GBP, and EUR accounts and the lower dollar rates offer it an advantage. However, as mentioned, its recent entry into the market could also mean it will not be fully considered the major player in the market and space right now.