Lydia launches a card to go beyond the peer-to-peer payment space

The app has various features, however, the main point is that the customer remains in control of their card, and not the bank.

Lydia started off as a peer-to-peer payment app. There are now 500,000 Lydia users in France.

While sending money takes just a few seconds as Lydia relies on your bank’s credit card to charge you, it can take a couple of days before you recipient actually gets the money on their bank account. Like many other payment apps, Lydia relies on SEPA transfers when you withdraw money from your Lydia wallet.

But this is about to change as Lydia is making withdrawal instantaneous as well thanks to a good old plastic card. Users can request a card for EUR 10 (USD 11.15), and then they’ll have to pay EUR 3.99 per month (USD 4.45). This card is optional, existing Lydia users can still withdraw money to their bank account for free.

According to the company, this card is more flexible than traditional credit cards. Users can activate or deactivate features from the Lydia app. For instance, NFC payments can be disabled, ATM withdrawals, foreign payments, etc. Or you could set the payment limit to EUR 50 if you only want to pay for small things with your Lydia card. Or you could disable your card altogether if you can’t find it, and enable it again.

Additionally, transactions appear instantly in the Lydia app. The reason why Lydia can do this is because the Lydia card checks and updates the MasterCard network every time you try to pay with your card.

When it comes to obscure fees, there’s no overdraft and you can pay everywhere around the world without any additional fee. More than that, Lydia uses the standard MasterCard conversion rates and has partnered with a French financial institution to issue these cards.

Customers don’t have to open a new bank account to use the Lydia card and as Lydia adds more features, the card could become an important part of the product.