Lydia review: the practical little app that has become a banking super-app

Initially conceived as a simple application for rapid money transfer, Lydia quickly evolved its offer to become a fully-fledged banking application. However, is it an offer comparable to the best online banks or other neobanks on the market?

Lydia Characteristics

Lydia in a few words

“Give me your number and I’ll make you a little Lydia”, it is with this fad that the company has made its name. The application launched in 2013 by two French entrepreneurs was intended to facilitate the exchange of money between individuals. It gradually developed by adding more and more banking services until it offered a paid offer from 2018 with bank cards and specific services.

But where Lydia stands out from other online banks and classic neobanks is that it is not a “real” bank, because it does not benefit from any specific license or from the possibility of transforming deposits. in credit. However, Lydia is a successful alternative since today it has more than 3.5 million users in Europe with an average of 2000 new daily users.

Lydia Pricing

Lydia is obviously accessible free of charge, which is the basis of its offer which, let us remember, is nothing like a bank like any other. It does have two chargeable cards, the advantages of which relate above all to the amount of authorized transactions as well as the insurance issued by the VISA organization (Lydia Black offer only). All RIBs issued by Lydia are French.

It should be noted that the creation of cards for Blue and Black accounts is free, but a sum of 5 euros will be requested for the edition of a physical card for paid accounts. For online purchases, we appreciate the presence of virtual cards that can be edited at will and which are used to pay for a single purchase on the Internet. It may take 5 to 15 days to receive the physical card.

How to fund your account?

You can fund your Lydia balance freely via any external account that you have registered, by making a request to one of your contacts via his phone number or by making an express loan (this last element is developed below in this article).

The money is then deposited on the Lydia balance or on the card account you have requested. Note that it is not possible for a third party to deposit money directly into an external account, so you will have to make the transfer yourself.

Open an account with Lydia

Everything happens from the Lydia application available on Android and iOS. To have access to the basic services of the application, there is no need to provide any information other than their phone number, last name, first name and email. Regarding the creation of an account, you will have to provide a photo of the front and back of your identity card, and that’s it! The operation ultimately only takes a few seconds.

Initial deposit and overdraft management

As Lydia is not a real bank, there is no need to make an initial deposit, either with a free or paid account. it is not even necessary to link the card from one’s regular bank account to start using the service, although it will be necessary for the money transfer.

Obviously, no possibility of having a debtor Lydia account and therefore an impossibility of overdraft.

Welcome bonuses

Once again, Lydia not being a banking establishment, its acquisition strategy can hardly be compatible with the welcome bonuses. The opening of an account is free and we must be satisfied with it. However, it can happen that Lydia makes occasional partnerships with other banks, but this involves opening an account in the said bank and accompanying it with a paying bank card.

Referral bonus

The referral bonus at Lydia does not seem as automatic as at other competitors. Special operations concerning this aspect are deployed on an ad hoc basis. Do not hesitate to visit our Good Plan section regularly to be the first to be informed.

Lydia Insurance and Services

To benefit from the insurance provided by the VISA organization, you must necessarily go through the Lydia Black offer, which is the only one to benefit from it. It includes protections for online purchases and against fraud. But it is especially for travel that this is useful since the offer includes dedicated insurance with repatriation coverage and winter sports insurance in the event of an accident.

Cashback

By launching its paid offer, Lydia immediately bet on the interest of the cashback system to stand out. This part is not however highlighted as much as the rest, the menu giving the reimbursement rates on compatible brands being hidden in the “Discover” part of the application. There are also very few compatible stores compared to what is done at N26, Revolut or Boursorama Banque. To see if this offer will be better developed in the future.

Note that once the participation in Lydia’s Cashback has been validated, the account is automatically credited with the sum of all the discounts on the 20th of each month.

Customer service

From the app, it’s not that easy to access Lydia’s support. It is all the more unfortunate that the virtual support put forward is quite effective in its responses. Lydia still has a comprehensive help center answering most of the questions a user may have, especially given the completeness of the offer. However, we were unable to access an online chat from the application, which can be very disabling when traveling abroad.

What about cryptocurrency?

Like a certain Vivid Money, Lydia quickly understood the added value of a trading system within its application ecosystem. While it is possible to invest in corporate stocks or precious metals, it is also the case with cryptocurrencies. Everything happens from the Lydia application in a dedicated menu called simply “Catalog”. It must be said that the system is particularly simplified and above all very attractive. All you have to do is open a trading account by entering some personal information. It is a way for Lydia to ensure your solvency and your investment capacity. It is also an opportunity to realize that Lydia is a partner of BitPanda which integrates its API directly into the Lydia application.

Once the trading account has been created, you have access to all the values ​​recorded on the platform with the possibility of immediate purchase from a Lydia account balance or other.

Our opinion on Lydia’s mobile application

If you’ve used Lydia from time to time as a simple quick money-sharing app, you’ll be delighted to see that it ultimately has everything of a premier banking app for managing your money. However, it will take some time for newbies to get used to it, especially to understand the organization of the menus. However, that would be nitpicking as the general presentation is clean and the functionalists are numerous. Lydia’s home gives access to all accounts at a glance and it is possible to transfer money with a simple swipe.

So of course no need to subscribe to a Lydia account to be able to transfer money, a simple link with another current account does the trick, the vast majority of banking establishments available in France being compatible.

Most of the advanced features of the Lydia platform are found in the “Discover” tab. We are thinking in particular of the generation of virtual cards that are very practical for placing ephemeral orders on the Internet in complete security. But that’s not all since the latest big news, as we mentioned above, allows each Lydia user to open an investment account. Finally, other products are emerging, such as the possibility of obtaining remunerated savings or making consumer or immobility loans via Lydia’s various partners.

Finally, the Lydia application naturally supports security functions such as blocking and unlocking accounts and especially unlocking by fingerprint for compatible smartphones.

Too bad Lydia did not see fit to deport her application to a web platform, everything happens only on mobile.