Vivid Money is one of Europe’s hyped challenger banks that differentiate themselves with their innovative digital services and perks.
Founded in 2020, Vivid Money is a fairly young player. Vivid Money covers everything required for managing daily transactions by offering a free bank account with several sub-accounts, international cash withdrawals, an attractive cashback program as well as investments into shares, ETFs, cryptos and more.
Overview: Which Bank Accounts can Customers Choose from?
Vivid Money offers three different account types: Free, Plus and Prime. The essential differences are:
- Number of available sub-accounts between 3 (Standard) and 15 (Prime)
- Physical card type made of plastic (Free, Plus’) or Metal (Prime)
- Service and transaction fees for investment and savings options
- Complimentary monthly amounts for cash withdrawals between 200 Euros (Free) and 1,000 Euros (Prime)
- Prime users have higher amounts and more opportunities for cashback collection
- Customer service through live chat only for Prime users.
It is more than worth checking the difference between the account offers here. Though any company tries to upsell their offers the basic account is already super rich in features.
VIVID PRIME With Prime account, the Vivid company opens up a new world of perks. From percentage of cashback to withdrawals limits or even the offer of a beautiful and extra safe metal card.
Features: What does the Vivid Money Current Account Offer?
- Visa Debit Card with contactless (fully suitable for i.e. store payments and online shopping; some hotel or rental car companies may ask for a credit card)
- Mobile payments and withdrawals (Apple Pay / Google Pay)
- Free card payments worldwide
- Free digital card
- Limited free cash withdrawals in Germany, the EU and worldwide with a minimum and a maximum fixed amount depending on the account type
Tip: If you want to make sure that your withdrawals are within the limits when making transactions in a foreign currency, you can preset the currency of a pocket and deposit the correct amount there before withdrawing. - Free real-time transactions to other Vivid accounts
- Up to 15 sub accounts (pockets) that can also be shared with other users and managed in different currencies
- Investments and savings opportunities in shares, ETFs, cryptos, precious metals, flexible savings acconts and more. Setting up regular savings plans is possible.
- Cashback can be collected with both accounts but with a robust and larger offer for Vivid Prime.
- Vivid Standard users can collect up to 20 Euros of cashback per month through card payments
- Vivid Plus customers can collect up to 50 Euros of cashback per month with their Vivid Card
- Vivid Prime users can collect up to 100 Euros of cashback per month through regular card transactions
- Insurance partnerships that rival the current offers from private companies. From devices to house insurances, the offer is broad
Requirements: Who can Open a Bank Account with Vivid Money?
Age and Profession
You need to be at least 18 years old to open an account. There is no pre-conditions in terms of profession: Anybody from pupils, students, employees to freelancers can open accounts. Vivid Money offers business accounts with different prices and conditions than listed above.
Residence, nationality and language skills
A Vivid bank account can be opened with a residence in a different country than Germany. On the following list you can check which countries and document types (passport, national ID) are accepted in the course of the identification process. The identification process is performed through photo upload via the smartphone camera.
Creditworthiness
Vivid Money has a Dutch banking license. They do not perform a German SCHUFA credit check. Hence, it might be a good option if you have just arrived to Germany and do not have extensive credit history or you want a second bank account. On the other hand, the account will also not help you build a credit history if you want to apply for a German credit card later.
Technical requirements
You need a compatible smartphone to open and maintain your account:
Customer Services: Which Languages are Supported and How is the Online/ Mobile Banking?
Chat, hotline and language support
Vivid bank offers customer support in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. Most of their communication will be via the app, but it can also happen via email. They will never contact you or let you contact them via phone. This is part of their security measurements.
The live chat is available 24/7. Their goal is to respond to chat inquiries within 2 minutes and email inquiries may take up to1 hour to get a response.
Online banking and mobile app
Though there is also a web interface, the app is the best way to manage the account. It is extremely rich in facilities, user friendly and offers the following features and more:
- Review of balances and limits
- Managing sub-accounts (Pockets)
- Bank transfers
- Managing investments
- Mobile payment (ApplePay / Google Pay)
- Push notifications in real-time to control card usage
Further Services for Managing Savings
You have options to invest regularly and automatically in (fractional) shares, ETFs or cryptos. Vivid Money also offers flexible savings accounts that let you earn interest on your deposits.
Account Opening: What Steps to Follow to Get a Vivid Money Account?
Opening an account is very easy and completely online like all other bank account opening processes: Here you only need to download the app, launch it and get ready for a photo/video identification.
Vivid, allows you to open a bank account with them still having your official residence elsewhere, you just need to check if your official foreign address is part of the participating countries.
