If you have already not joined the mobile wallet bandwagon then you need to shake yourself up. Gone are the days when you stand in a queue for paying bills. Seriously that’s such a waste of time and energy. I don’t even remember when was the last time I had gone somewhere, stood in a queue and paid any bill.

Paying through internet baking is also becoming a passé. If you thought paying utility bills online or through phone are not secure and safe for your account – then you need to start using the mobile wallets. Freecharge is not just a recharging app, it’s a full-fledged mobile wallet.

What can you do on Freecharge, did you ask? Apart from recharging phone, you can pay most of your utility bills like electricity bills, gas bills, DTH bills, even split money among friends.

Freecharge User Experience

Freecharge offers great user interface & experience (UI/UX) and security and a team of 300 odd people are working round the clock to deliver consumers “first class experience”.

The fundamental principles that dictates UI/UX strategy for Freecharge is ‘No typing only tapping’ and the transaction should happen in less than 10 secs. The emphasis is on ‘faster checkouts’ in anything and everything consumer does in relation to payments. The features like ‘Bill Payment Reminder’ and ‘Auto Pay’ helps you to be in control and never miss out on anything.

Security

If you are worried about using your money on an app or online then check what Mr. Govid Rajan, CEO of Freecharge has to say – “security is our number 1 priority! We have been voted as India’s most secure start-up and the 2nd most preferred wallet”.

He adds, “Freecharge has built its own (in-house) risky transactions management platform and has a dedicated risk & security team that looks at patterns so that they are always ready to respond to any and every kind of fraudulent actions possible.” The Freecharge platform has been built purely on the basis of Indian data and not global data – which makes it even more robust and trustworthy.

He further adds – passwords of users are never stored in the Freecharge system. All passwords are encrypted using one way non-reversible keys which makes it impossible for abuse. Freecharge has actually assigned every single bank account of the country to pin codes and have a database of risky transaction pin codes.

The eye opening fact is that in terms of risky transactions Freecharge is at 1/7^th of the Indian benchmark which is better than many top financial institutions.

Being Transparent with Customers

Freecharge invited a group of bloggers at their Bangalore office and demonstrated how they work. They were introduced to the Mission Control team which includes SRE, Dev Ops, cloud automation, cloud security & IT, the marketing group, the Analytics team, QA, The Design Mafia (UI & UX), the product managers, the payments team, the technology team, the mobile team! They also had a candid session with the CEO.

Govind explained, to the bloggers, the systems at Freecharge are designed to study 500-600 parameters of the mobile phone and over time have become robust to raise flags when a suspicious transaction are recorded. Elaborating more, he gave example of the attack on Yahoo wherein Freecharge reached out to all its users who have a registered Yahoo account and made them to change their passwords.

He said that there are systems in place wherein ‘lock-out’ can happen if a consumer tries beyond ‘x’ times to login and is not able to login.

The wallet has very stringent protocols on wallet velocity, device fingerprinting, device encryption and identification and hold limits which are designed to trap and eliminate fraud.

The proprietary technology ‘On-the-Go-Pin’ (OTP) fulfills the RBI’S mandate for two-factor authentication and does not require even a single additional investment by retailers or a customer, making the transaction secure, swifter and in less than 10 seconds!

Varun Arora Sr. Product Manager for Risk and Frauds explained how Credit Card theft and Account Theft are part of the game. He clarified how they at Freecharge are performing high level fraud checks to minimize and tackle these attacks.

The bloggers also got to meet the Customer Service team. Mr Velu, AVP Operations explained most of the customer queries and complaints were addressed within 20 minutes that they came in throughout 24 hours of the day and 7 days a week. Which I think is prompt and speed needed for an industry dealing with finances of people.

What Else Can you Do with the Freecharge App?

1. Freecharge supports15 Telecom services and 30+ Utility Brands
2. They offer an offline payment mode
3. WhatsApp money with Freecharge
4. Donate money to NGOs using Freecharge Waller and get the certificate to claim tax exemptions.

What are you waiting for, start using the Freecharge Mobile Wallet. They are currently available on Android & iOS.

For more details you can visit their website.

I am taking part in the Ultimate Blogging Challenge, 31 Days of Marathon Blogging with Daily Chatter. Follow me on Twitter & Instagram to stay updated with #TinaWrites and #TinasBongConnection