Since today, La Franaise des Jeux (FDJ) has been distributing a new account offer with payment card, which will allow you to make cash deposits and withdrawals in tobacco shops. Strengths, limits, promises: everything you need to know about Nirio Premio.
Nirio: under this new brand, La Franaise des Jeux (FDJ) has been deploying a set of new payment serviceswith the support of more than 15,000 tobacconist bars which make up its distribution network.
Since Monday April 29, the operator of the national lottery has gone further: it has just launched Niori Premio, a payment account accompanied by a bank card and a mobile application. One more. Its ambition is great: FDJ wants to become the first local payment and collection network in France. Why this new offer? What are its strengths and limitations? We take stock of what we know.
What can I pay with Nirio?
Since January 2023, the date of its launch, Nirio has made it possible to adjust public bills (fines, public service bills, taxes below 300 euros) at 15,200 tobacconists. Since then, the service has been opened to social housing rent payments. This functionality will soon be expanded, bringing the total number of partner social landlords to 15. From June, the students benefiting from the Crous will be able to pay their participation in one of the approved businesses. From this summer, Nirio should also allow you to pay for plane tickets from partner companies and free-flow motorway pages.
As for Nirio Premio, it allows you to adjust all daily expenses: in-store payments using your bank card, online purchases using a dematerialized bank card, transfers and direct debits using the French IBAN provided to designate the account…
How does it work?
To be able to use Nirio Gothe bill payment service in tobacco shops, and Nirio Premio, you must first download the service’s mobile application, available on Android and iPhone.
Ct Nirio Premio, the application allows you to scan the QR codes present on partner invoices and generate a payment link. This link, presented at the tobacco shop, then allows you to pay the bill by card or in cash. Even, in certain cases, to pay only part of the amount due, in order to stagger the payment within the deadline set for the invoice.
How much is it?
Nirio Go is free to use. The Nirio Premio account is billed at 2.99 per month, or 29.90 for one year with one-time payment. The monthly subscription is without obligation.
Use of the Nirio account and card entails additional costs. Each cash withdrawal from ATMs is rated 1. Payments in foreign currencies are charged 2% of the amount paid, withdrawals in foreign currencies 1 + 2% of the amount withdrawn.
Loading the Nirio account using a bank card is also chargeable: 2% of the amount deposited. However, it is free if the supply is made by transfer or in cash, within the limit of 4 deposits per month. Beyond that, it is also charged 2% of the amount deposited.
What are the advantages of opening a Nirio account?
Nirio Go allows you to pay your fines, invoices to the public sector or social housing rent between cash or by card at a physical point of sale. It is therefore very useful for those those who do not wish (or cannot) make remote payments, by bank card, transfer or direct debit, due to the risk of fraud or the fear of budget overrun. It is particularly interesting for people who the choice to favor cashat the expense of electronic payments.
Nirio Premio also highlights the subject of budgetary management. The account does not allow overdrafts. And the application integrates automatic tools allowing you to set up budgets, item by item, and monitor their progress in real time.
Nirio Premio finally allows you to deposit cash into your account in the approximately 5,000 tobacco-press bars that offer this service. The withdrawal of cash is promised for the end of the year.
Can Nirio Premio overshadow Nickel?
It is indisputable that the two services have similarities: the price (29.90 for Nirio, 25 for Nickel), the type of offers (bank account without overdraft with systematic authorization card), the possibility of depositing and withdrawing cash from tobacconists…
Nickel, however, retains some advantages. The first: allow the opening of the account and immediate availability of the card at the tobacco shop. Opening the Nirio Premio account is done, in fact, from the mobile application, which requires a certain mastery of digital tools. You then have to wait several days to receive the card by La Poste.
Nickel also retains the network advantage: the service is present in 7,000 tobacco shops, while only 5,000 accept cash deposits on the Nirio coast.
Finally, Nickel the benefit of age: the payment institution has just celebrated its 10th anniversary and has more than 3.5 million customers in France.
Has the FDJ become a bank?
No. To offer the Nirio Premio account, the Franaise des Jeux went associates Xpollens, a subsidiary of the BPCE banking group registered with the regulator, the ACPR (1), as an electronic money establishment. It is Xpollens which will therefore manage the accounts, transfers and payment cards.
How to get a free bank card?
(1) Prudential control and resolution authority