Lydia Solutions has now announced a new Premium account type for its Lydia – Mobile Payment application that takes the app’s functionality far beyond peer-to-peer payments. In fact, signing up for the paid subscription service – which currently costs €2.99 per month – is now intended to allow users to manage all of their bank accounts and cards from a single app. The app was initially launched as a way to easily pool money between friends and family, as well as making payments to friends or family. Those features are still present, of course. However, Lydia has opened up its service to include many more features that may ensure users never need to open their standard banking applications again, with even more features planned for the near future.
As alluded to above, at the core of the Lydia app’s features is the ability to conveniently and securely send money to friends and family. The Android app also allows for QR codes to be used to pay bills at businesses that allow for that. The newly added premium account adds a substantial degree of usability on top of that, thanks to the addition of virtual cards and the ability to link external bank accounts. In that regard, it works similarly to PayPal or how Google Wallet used to work in that money can be easily transferred between bank accounts linked to the application. Moreover, premium users can set up recurring payments to come out via the app. Lydia takes things further by incorporating a money pot feature that works like a personal, private crowdfunding site built right into the application. All of that is, in turn, and for premium members only, tied to a single “universal” physical MasterCard card that can be swiped or used just like a debit or credit card. Accounts that are in the premium tier can also be joined together in a centralized joint account between users. Perhaps best of all, the company says a universal international bank account number is in the works so that money can be transferred to and from a Lydia account without the need to send it to or from a specific bank account linked to the account. Spending categories for automatic payments will be added soon as well.
Meanwhile, free account holders are getting limited versions of some of those new features as well. Those include the virtual card, linked bank accounts, bank transfers, and recurring payments features, while the free account money pot feature will require users to pay a “commission” for money pooled. So there are a ton of new features all around with this announcement. The only real caveat is that it is currently only available France, Ireland, the U.K., Spain, and Portugal, with no word as to when or if the company plans to expand from those regions. In the meantime, anybody interested in checking out Lydia’s services for themselves can head over to the Google Play Store via the button below.
