PiggyBankNG, the personal saving assistant that helps its owner save by automatically debiting their account a specified amount at specified intervals.
Overarching questions like: Is it safe? Is it free? and more can be answered on their FAQ site.
One thing is clear, Piggybank.ng (a subsidiary of SharpHire Global Ltd) is safe. It is a financial technology (fintech) solutions provider and when it comes to holding funds/deposits, they partner with UBA. It is a product of Metro Microfinance bank registered under CBN and also NDIC-insured, according to an email chat with a Cofounder, Josh Chibueze.
Currently, they have certain features which make savings more disciplined such as set withdrawal dates. Should you choose to withdraw outside of those dates you’ll pay a 5% withdrawal fee on the withdrawal amount. how about that for a punishment?
Also, upon sign-up you are encouraged to set a savings target. After doing so, you’ll be prompted to fill out your plan to achieve it at your own pace. It (savings) can be done daily, weekly or/and monthly.
Because it is done automatically, you don’t have to worry about forgetting. In that case, it emails you that ‘your savings was unsuccessful’ with an option to catch up using quick save – a feature that allows you quickly deposit money into your savings.
In an interview with Jefwa of CIO East Africa, as a #DEMOAfricaFinalist, Josh mentioned that “Piggybank was created to ease the stress of physically depositing money daily into a physical saving box”. Hence, it is unsurprising to see their other products/features feed off that vision. For example, Safelock.
Safelock – a piggybank feature that safely locks your savings
Safelock is a piggybank feature which allows users safely lockaway their savings for a period of time while earning interest, till its expiry date (which is user determined at the beginning). It was announced four months ago, in March, on their Medium-hosted company blog.
Yesterday, another addition to that feature was announced via their Twitter platform. This allows you to create multiple safelocks such that you can split your savings (into their different purposes) and identify them with different names.