Dimes Card review – standing out in the crowd
Yes, the pre-paid Dimes Card is a MasterCard, but that’s where the similarities end compared to other pre-paid cards.
It’s different.
It’s not just “a card”.
Instead, the pre-paid Dimes Card uses intelligent banking to put the fun back into budgeting with rewards and challenges. It encourages you to cleverly spend, understand your finances and respect your budget, and it keeps a tally of your income and expenses.
If that’s what you’re looking for….
Great, this Dimes Card review is for you!
Think how useful the Dimes Card would be for a teenager’s first taste of financial independence. Or perhaps for the adult who finds it difficult to keep track of their bills. Or maybe you just like the idea of having rewards and challenges whilst you spend and save.
What is the Dimes Card?
Most of us have used a credit, debit or pre-paid card. It’s an easy way to spend our money and pay our bills, but it’s a nuisance having to keep track of our finances.
Convenient budgeting is one of the reasons that Dimes created the pre-paid Dimes Card.
The Dimes Card can be used (currently just in the UK) in any store that accepts card payments. There’s a small 30p fee each time you withdraw cash via the ATM, and that’s only because Dimes is charged that 30p directly.
All other transactions, top-ups and withdrawals are free via direct debit, bank transfer or Visa/Mastercard.
The Dimes Card communicates with the Dimes app to remind us when we’re nearing our budget limit or if we have a bit extra to spend or save.
It’s not just about balancing the books
The Dimes app sets challenges and rewards us with cashback whenever we use the pre-paid Dimes Card.
Intelligent banking with a pre-paid Dimes Card. Clever, eh?
” As you swipe your card or tap the contactless terminal your phone will buzz telling you that you just discovered a reward. Collect these rewards and challenges to gather cashback prizes and free gifts. Level up for better prizes and custom cards”
[source: Dimes launch press release]
The cashback is in the form of Dimes points aka cryptocurrency. By pressing “claim cashback” in the Dimes app, the Dimes points are traded for us on the cryptocurrency market and our account is funded with the equivalent monetary value.
To retain scarcity and true market value, Dimes points are only released to the market when you spend money with the Dimes Card.
Why doesn’t Dimes offer cashback as points or balance percentages?
The answer’s simple – Dimes has strong core values which means that unlike other companies, it’s motive isn’t to use points to get better insight into our transactional data nor to persuade us to spend more at their business. It’s simply to reward us.
Dimes will:
- focus on providing great service
- remove the fees from transactions, by providing direct account to account transfers
- provide free top-up and online withdrawals, with just a 30p fee for ATM withdrawals
- never charge us for a zero balance
- never lend and never take risks with our money
- ensure that security is always a priority
- never sell our data to third parties
Who created Dimes?
The Dimes’ website describes the creators as “a group of product developers who create a new generation of financial applications” [source: Dimes website]
Simon Brown is the CEO and co-founder of Dimes. His team is UK-based and has gained much experience whilst developing and designing for leading global brands.
How can I get the Dimes Card and app?
Dimes will launch its beta phase soon.
If you like the sound of Dimes’ plans, join the beta list using the Dimes link and be one of the first to receive the Dimes Card and app when it launches.
UPDATE: as of 2016, Dimes is no longer in active development. Dimes’ social media has not been updated in a while, nor is there any response to email queries, so I am unsure as to why development has been stopped.
Note: this review is a general resource and does not constitute professional advice. PeasOnToast.co.uk is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority with whom you should seek financial advice.
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