How to open a TymeBank bank account

[Spreadsheet Ranger 20]

I decided to give TymeBank (TymeDigital) a try today. I am very excited for Michael Jordaan's BankZero, but TymeBank beat them to the punch and launch the first fully digital branchless bank. There were some initial hiccups with their website not working, but overall the experience was incredibly smooth.

 

To open a TymeBank bank account simply sign up online through their website (Click here to open a TymeBank account). This process is incredibly simplified through the use of eFica they are able to FICA you without any documents all you need is your ID number (just the number, you type it into the website) and a cell phone (for OTPs and confirmations) then you set a pin and you are done, you now have a fully fledged bank account.

 

There is a catch... In order to activate and get a debit card (visa debit card), you need to go into a Pick n Pay to the TymeBank kiosk. Take your cell phone with because when you log into the Kiosk it will send an OTP to your phone. All you need to do at the kiosk is scan your thumb fingerprints then your account will be fully verified and the machine will print your debit card. 

 

This entire process took me less than 10 minutes, registering online took 3 minutes and printing my card at the Kiosk took 4 minutes.

 

After this, I downloaded the TymeBank app from the google play store and its impressive, very neat layout and functional. In fact, I like their app better than Capitec (and I have been using Capitec since 2008). Their app still needs some work, I think they are using some AWS instance not locally so the lag time on the app is noticeable (latency from whatever region they use), but its nothing major.

 

Why did I get a TymeBank bank account?

There are zero monthly fees, so I figured if it does not cost me anything to open the account and it does not cost me anything to have the account then why not. Something to note, SMS on TymeBank are free too, other banks should take not, especially Capitec, I know they make a killing on SMSes.

 

The other drawcard for me was the integration with Pick n Pay (although their staff is completely clueless about how Tyme works, I went to two Pick n Pays and neither one's staff had a clue what to do when you want to add funds). Anyway, the reason I like it is that I shop mostly at Pick 'n Pay and with a TymeBank account, you can get double the smart shopper points if you use the card as your payment method and using it to swipe for the smart shopper instead of the blue pick 'n pay card.

 

The other reason I got the account is for the interest. You get 6% interest from day one and if you leave your money you can get up to 10% interest, so I will put a few thousand bucks into this account and just leave it to earn interest, basically extra cash I will put into TymeBank as I will earn almost double the interest I get from Capitec.

 

Another worthwhile note is that all TymeBank account holders get free wifi at all Pick n Pay and Boxer stores, not that I really need this, but for a bank account that does not cost me anything, it's a nice perk to know if I ever do run out of data I can pop into a Pick n Pay and be connected again.

 

How to get money?

It might not be obvious at first with all the digital bank and feeling like this is some special service. It's a normal bank account you get an account number so EFT some money to your TymeBank bank account. If you have cash on hand then you can go to any Pick 'n Pay. It will cost you R4 at Pick n Pay to deposit cash into your TymeBank account, which is alright. 

Pro Tip: The people at Pick 'n Pay will have no idea how to do it, so to avoid boiling your blood tell them this is a normal online deposit (they should understand what that means).

 

Here is the card I got:

This is a fully fledged debit card (visa), you can do online payments everything, there are no limits. The interesting bit, this card costs nothing. Capitec charged me R50 for my card.

 

 

Edited February 11 by Spreadsheet Ranger

[Spreadsheet Ranger 20]

 

Money is in
Yesterday I transferred money from Capitec to TymeBank via an EFT at 7 pm (11 Feb 2019) the money reflected now in my TymeBank account at 7 pm (12 Feb 2019) so it took 24 hours, not impressive, but I think that has more to do with Bankserv than it has to do with TymeBank.

 

Login page

 

Tymebank online banking dashboard

 

Tymebank everyday account overview

 

Tymebank transaction details

Underlying code observation
The Tymebank online banking interface is incredibly smooth in terms of the layout, it's build using an off the shelf framework called Bootstrap v3.3.7, which means they used an open source front-end with some custom modifications (very startup-ish, but I like their implementation it's clean and relatively fast.).

I think they are using Microsoft Azure for some data and then AWS as the main system (which explains the slow latency since the server is not in SA) and then it seems they host some of the services as a herokuapp cloud application as well, probably testing (an API of TymeBank: https://internet-banking.herokuapp.com/api) the production system I think sits on Azure and AWS (aws: ibauthprox.tymedigital.co.za and Azure: cbsaweb-sit.northeurope.cloudapp.azure.com)

Potential Security Risk
Besides the latency (Slow response) the only real issue I have is that they do not request a pin or OTP after you login to the website, so because their site remembers your ID and password it means if your laptop or pc gets stolen, your bank is compromised. Ditto for anyone using a public computer to access their TymeBank bank account, if you use a public PC consider your TymeBank bank account compromised. 

Edited February 12 by Spreadsheet Ranger

[Bandit 31]

Opened mine on the 19th of November and moved my R1,500 to a Goal Save account. Started at 6% interest and then moved to 7%. Waiting for the 19th of this month and then I should be on 9%.

 

Not sure what happens when I deposit more money into that account (if the interest rate resets, carries on at 9% or if there is some other mechanism keeping track of deposits and their respective interest rates).

 

Do I trust them with my money? Well... I guess. Not planning to put to large a percentage of my money there but 9-10% interest beats almost everything out there. It even makes you wonder if it is worth buying Solar panels via FedGroup