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How Digital Banking Systems Enhance Customer Experience?

Posted on March 24, 2022March 24, 2022 by admin

Technology is ever changing and continues to revolutionise the world in which we live. In less than a decade, the lives of every single person worldwide have changed from being digital second to digital first. As technology is developing towards providing a comfortable lifestyle, people’s preferences are changing with respect to living in this easily accessible digital world. The world has seen significant improvements and advancements digitally in the last few years alone. These advancements would only continue to grow and inspire people to adapt to the changes in their lifestyles. Gadgets like laptops, smartphones, tablets, and computers have become an integral part of almost everyone’s daily life. Internet and online preferences have seen a significant rise, adding to the comfortable lifestyle of an individual.

The Continuous evolving landscape, cutting-edge competition, along with rising customer expectations have become a general thumb rule to adapt to in almost every industry. The banking sector is no exception and is one of the first industries to adapt to digital advancements. The banking and financial sector being the backbone of any economy is understandably on the frontline for digitalisation and advancement. This is also why many insurances, banking services, and financial institutions and providers have to keep up with the new trends to tend to their customers promptly.

SoulWallet helps you compare and find the best credit card across various banks, that are suited for your needs for you to have an easy and hassle-free experience. The well-researched, solidly structured, unbiased content along with unique tools at SoulWallet help you make well informed financial decisions for your personal and business transactions. In the process, SoulWallet helps you identify the options that will let you save money and enjoy the best perks.

Digitalisation in Banking

With the digitalisation of the banking sector, more and more people prefer to manage their financial activities from making payments, transactions like transferring of funds, checking their bank account statements to applying for loans and credit cards by simply logging into their digital banking portals and conducting these activities from the comfort of their homes or from on the move without having to visit the bank. Digital banking is a system that helps banks and financial institutions to digitalise their banking services and make them convenient to use for the customers as per their convenience. Digital banking services can include activities like money deposits, withdrawals, management of the customer’s bank account, application for financial products, like credit or debit cards, management of loans and other transactions.

Digitalising the banking sector has also helped grow their customer base and transactions can be carried out easily from any area of the world. In order to incorporate this, various digital platforms have established easier links between people from different remote corners, connecting them to the banking and financial institutions and providing them with the service they need. That is why the preference for digital banking for both customers and bankers is thriving.

In many cases, physical restrictions and complications lead to a sharp surge in a demand for an online platform for financial activities and digital banking services. A study by Mastercard revealed that 62% of the respondents in Europe expressed a keen desire and interest in moving from the physical banking aspect to banking using digital platforms in the year 2020. With the complications arising due to the pandemic, over half of the world’s population prefers using online facilities and banking apps more than ever and have expressed a more positive interest in digital banking overall. Customers have switched banks for banks that offer banking features that provide safe, quick, and convenient access to their finances online. Fast, simple, and effortless digital experiences have now become the default mode for consumers throughout their lives, and it’s becoming increasingly important for banking too, particularly as all the big techs have upped their involvement in their respective sectors.

Digital banking authorizes its customer’s personalization at the scale that drives between 5 and 15% revenue growth for the corporations in the financial service sectors. Banks functioning digitally have also witnessed a reduction in costs and streamlined processes. This end-to-end integration has also helped provide an engaging customer experience in financial services that allow business transformation with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Customer Experience in Banking

In the year 1999, when the world was steadily digitalising, Dell’s then Chief Information Officer Jerry Gregoire proclaimed, “the customer experience is the next competitive battleground.” The two decades since have shown this to be a very accurate prediction in all sectors of business.

All the efforts a bank puts in making each and every one of their individual clients feel important while interacting and transacting with the bank is referred to as the customer experience (CX). The cumulation of all the interactions that a customer perceives along the entire journey is also a part of the customer experience. Customer experience is the most important aspect in the banking and financial sector. Every strategic approach taken by the banks is to meet the demands of their customer and to satisfy their customer needs. In this day and age, it is crucial for banks and financial institutions to digitally transform themselves to deliver a consistent banking experience online for their customers.

A study by the digital banking report has concluded that improving the customer experience in banking should be the first goal for all banking institutions and financial service providers. The banks that invest in the customer experience trends have a higher rate of recommendation, greater wallet share and are more likely to up and sell or cross-sell products and services to existing customers.

In the financial service industry, customer experience carries equal weightage, if not more. Addressing customer suggestions and preferences is much more impactful in the long term and forms a loyal customer base. Banks and financial institutions that adopt new trends and strategies to revamp the banking and financial service experiences are steady in the market and have a loyal and expanding customer base. Banks and financial institutions that have used digitalisation and technology to create seamless, convenient, and intuitive customer experiences have dominated their markets.

What are the Customer Expectations from Digital Banking Experience?

Customers expect their banks should focus on creating an experience culture that would nurture all their needs, build trust, and offer personalised experience as per their convenience.

The key customer expectations when it comes to digitised banking experience are:

Easy accessibility – Banks and financial institutions need to provide quick and easy to use digital platforms that are accessible across multiple devices, mainly smartphones and computers. Various features and banking transactions should be carried out easily on these platforms without any wait time. The high quality banking experience along with easily connecting with the bank directly is a must.

Real time assistance – Often customers need real time assistance and prefer instant support. This not only builds confidence in the customers but also encourages loyalty and recurring customers. Using live assistance tools like co-browsing and video chats, banks can provide real time support and help to their customers. Chatbots also help scale their support and customer interactions.

Personalised services – Customers almost always prefer personalised services and relevance as per their needs. They would look for products and services that match their needs and provides subsidies that would be beneficial to their needs and usage. Banks can identify the key business drivers and deliver personalised support that would help shape the customer experience in banking.

Data security – Many customers are sceptical about their financial and important personal information being misused or taken advantage of. Data security is the most crucial point for any banking and financial sector. Customers need to feel safe sharing their finance and personal information with the bank. A healthy relationship between banks and customers is only created with a secure network and when a bank can guarantee security to the data of their customers.

Multifunctionality – Customers prefer banks that offer them options and solutions to any of their problems immediately. The banks need to keep pace with the latest developments of the market and technology and offer services across different channels simultaneously.

Design – Many traditional banking institutions often do not concentrate on their interfaces and fail to attract new clients. A customer today will prefer banks to have an exceptional UI along with easy to use website or mobile apps. Investing in improving digital channels attracts more customers.

Three ways Banks can conquer Customer Experience in Digital Banking

Banks hold enjoy strong customer relationships and trust since their establishment. Even with the services and products becoming available digitally, most of the customers trust their banks and banks that offer superior and personalised services. To further thrive in this digital era, banks need to harness the available advanced banking technology. This will allow the banks to match with the seamless and intuitive customer experiences offered by other big tech and their competitors.

To conquer customer experience in digital banking, banks need to focus on three key areas:

Transform the business models and mindset to a customer first approach – The customer first mindset requires banks and financial institutions to think about customer needs relentlessly and make things easy and accessible for the customers.

Leverage advanced banking technology – All banks require advanced digital banking solutions that help them manage their customers worldwide. Using technologies like application programming interfaces (APIs), cloud, and artificial intelligence allows banks to analyse and manage their vast amounts of data and large customer base.

Maintain and extend your trust advantage – Trust being the most important factor, offers a valuable advantage to build close and personal relationships with customers. Combing technology with customer experiences, banks can enhance customer experience and develop stronger trust with their clients.

Tips to Improve Digital Transformation

For banks to succeed in digital transformation and to avoid outdated assumptions while creating exceptional services that focus on their customers, banks should follow the following customer experience tips:

Serve more instead of selling
Make emotional connections with customers instead of overloading them with lots of information
Provide actionable solutions to customers instead of just focusing on features
Create an integrated flow for the customers instead of disintegrated experiences
Become disruptive instead of being protective

Ways to Improve Digital Customer Experience in Banking

The adoption of digital enablement technologies by banks that are able to function together smoothly is required to orchestrate a connected and enhance customer experience.

The following strategies are options for banks to achieve this state:

Proactive engagement for improved financial management – Financial institutions have various means and innovative methods to collect data, analyse and channel strategies to diversify the means of engaging customers and building better and stronger relationships in real time. By educating customers, notifying customers without delays, and conducting surveys help banks in conducting proactive customer engagement.

Offering live assistance – Mapping a consumer banking journey is an excellent way to gain a detailed understanding of the customer’s experience. This can help banks discover common customer complaints, gain insights into improving the consumer journey, help in identifying the touchpoints customers have with the bank and understand their expectations better. This also helps in improving customer resolution time, reducing sale cycle and number of touchpoints for the customer.

Using chatbots as Financial Concierge – Artificial intelligence has played a significant role in technological development. Using AI chatbots is a common practice for customer interactions. This helps in providing faster and more accurate solutions to customers in real time and help in connecting with the right department and bank personnel without much response delay. The chatbots also provide customer information to the banks to help them identify the customer and the problem quicker and thus provide accurate solutions.

Prioritise a seamless omnichannel customer experience – Modern customers prefer to connect with the bank across various different channels according to their convenience. Banks need to provide the same time of services across all channels, both online and offline.

Understand the customer journey – Creating an unrivalled customer experience is an aspiration of all banks and this can be achieved by following the end to end customer journey. Customer needs, actions, barriers, and motivation can be considered at every stage of the customer journey and any shortcomings can be dealt with immediately without wasting time.

Make use of big data and analytics – Understanding customers is the foundation for sustainable competitive advantage in the digital banking and financial sector. With the help of analytics and data, banks can gain valuable insights to segment customers, evaluate opportunities, and predict models to strengthen engagements and increase the customer experience of digitalised banking services.

Using a personalised customer experience approach – Personalisation is imperative, and every customer demands it. These elements help banks to put customers first, leverage this customer data and deliver multi channel customer experience, thus improving the customer experience overall worldwide

Transparency, Security, Trust as customer experience tools – Forbes says that customers want to feel valued, appreciated, and confident, and customers who feel this, will advocate the brand. Using these tools builds deep trust and cultivates loyalty in customers who in turn recommend the bank or financial institution to others, thus providing more value to the banks.

Trends Reshaping Customer Experience in Banking for 2022

Enhancing Products & Services with Mobile App Data – In this age and time many mobile banking applications aren’t so much as nice to have rather than on a need to have basis. Banks without this capability are at a severe disadvantage, as customers have come to expect convenient and easy to use a mobile app as a basic necessity. These apps and software enable the banks and financial institutions to analyse the data collected and the machine learning algorithms can help the banks to extract valuable information in return from this customer data, which can then be leveraged to develop new products, optimise the existing processes, better empower customers, and improve the overall customer experience.

The Branch of the Future – Customers do not prefer to visit the physical branches as frequently as they once did and pecks like complimentary coffee and free Wi-Fi aren’t enough to draw modern customers to their physical branches. Physical branches see themselves competing with their own online platforms for customer attention. With the need to reimagine the physical branches to a branch of the future many banks are taking steps in modernising their physical branches to offer more technological services. For example, some branches display mobile, and tablets loaded with their banking apps on display, while some banks have capitalised on the value of one on one, face to face interactions with customers to help them utilise their money better and offer consultative services for the same.

Advising Services – As customers look for ways to grow their money in a safe and secure manner, usually find themselves in a whirlpool of information on the internet and random financial advice, which may or may not be practical for them or may be too broad to be of any real use. Banks can use this opportunity to improve their financial services and pair their customers with in-house financial advisors who can provide tailored advice as per their customers’ needs. This will not only help build trust and better relationships between the banks and the customer but will also offer a competitive advantage. With the help of customer relationship management (CRM) technology, banks can collect and analyse data and build detailed customer profiles which in turn, the in-house advisors can use to gain overall knowledge of their customers thus being able to offer personalised services.

Artificial Intelligence – A customer these days would prefer to reduce human interaction and would prefer to have automated services. This is also apt with the situation where the customer is put on hold while calling the bank’s customer service helpline to report an issue. With the volume of incoming calls steadily increasing and having a limited number of bank representatives on hand to field them, banks have to find innovative ways to tackle this situation without losing the trust of their customers. With the help of artificial intelligence, banks stand to save a substantial amount of resources and help customers more accurately while also improving customer experience in banking. Using artificial intelligence in an innovative manner, banks can also provide virtual assistants to provide money management tips and tricks to customers.

Automated Onboarding – For most banking customers, a quality customer experience hinges on their first impression with bank interaction. This first impression takes place during customer onboarding in the bank. Traditionally, a lot of paperwork and documents were required along with multiple visits to the banks. Digitalisation and making onboarding an electronic process has made it easier for customers as well as for banks. Customers can do it as per their convenience and from the comfort of their homes, whereas banks can use the automated process to compile the data with ease and accuracy, further enhancing the overall customer experience.

Support for Digitalization & Remote Service – In the last year alone, the importance and need for digital channels and remote services have been highlighted quite a bit. Making this transaction digital has been proven to be difficult for many banking customers, more specifically customers from older generations and customers who do not have access to digital platforms. In the coming years, banks need to double their efforts to smooth this transition for their customers. Providing additional support in terms of educating customers, to providing step by step tutorials and interactive videos would help increase customer knowledge and thus improve the overall customer experience. The more comfortable and confident a customer would feel while interacting on the digital platforms and remote services, the better their overall financial services customer experience will be.

“Humanizing” Digital – Even though artificial intelligence and digital platforms are leading banking customer experience; trust is always built on human interaction. To make this a comfortable union, a growing number of banks are offering a mix of artificial intelligence and live support for customer services, generating efficiency gains while still providing customers with the kind of personal touch they need. As technology advances, artificial intelligence and chatbots can be made more personal and be given personalities to have a more customised conversation with the customer and be able to leverage sentiments to detect emotions and respond appropriately.

Hyper-personalisation – Personalisation has been topping the customer experience list for years and the advancements made are tailored around that. The next frontier of personalisation is hyper-personalisation. When compared to standard personalisation that uses data analytics to deliver targeted marketing and sales messaging to different customer segments, hyper-personalisation is using a combination of predictive analytics like artificial intelligence and machine learning to monitor individual customers’ real time usage data and provide services and suggestions accordingly. Armed with this technology, banks can queue more targeted and one on one marketing campaigns and offers.

Proactive Engagement – One of the best things about advanced analytics is that it provides financial institutions with a level of insight into their customers that once seemed impossible. Today, banks can monitor customers’ financial health and proactively offer assistance with financial management or suggest opportunities to grow their wealth. Depending on customers’ preferences, this service can be offered over digital platforms or in person. Watching out for their customers’ interest to demonstrate the value added enhances the overall financial services customer experience.

Doing the Right Thing – The past two years have been challenging and has placed a significant financial strain on individuals as well as businesses. Banks can help their customers by being transparent about their process, data management and being honest about their policies and practices. Sustainability, honest and transparent business models go a long way in ensuring trust between a customer and the financial institution. Offering financial advising services to help their customers regain their footing shows concern and helps build a long term relationship between banks and their customers. Ultimately, doing the right thing by the customer is about demonstrating to customers that you intend to put their best interests first.

Tips for banks on Improving the Customer Experience

Assemble a dedicated customer experience team solely for that purpose
Establish strong feedback loops to gain valuable insight
Take an iterative aspect to optimization
Keep the customer at the centre of the business
Be honest and promise only what they can deliver
Enhance the mobility of products & services
Be a financial advisor throughout the customer’s journey
Mirror customer experience of branch to internet banking
Leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate routine tasks to save time and optimise value

Popularity of Digital Banking in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates has always been keeping a steady pace with global developments, especially in the era of digitalisation of banking. From the year 1960, with the introduction of ATMs and later internet banking and mobile banking, banks and financial institutions in the UAE have always been in the now. Today, banks propose digital only solutions; and lately, non-bank entrants are also joining this digital banking fray.

The banks and financial institutions in the UAE began to realise the challenges and opportunities of the financial technology revolution that had begun sweeping across all the industries in the second half of the previous decade. This prompted a number of banks and financial institutions to launch digital banking initiatives. These initiatives ranged from separate digital only banking platforms to strengthening of existing mobile banking platforms, rationalising branch based services, and refocusing staff on value-added services rather than repetitive and less-profitable branch operations.

Top Digital Banks in the UAE

Currently, UAE is home to more than a dozen digital banks with the numbers expanding rapidly. From personal banking to banking optimised for businesses and youth, there are a number of options currently available in the UAE.

Emirates NBD LIV
Mashreq Neo
Yap
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB)
Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB)
First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)

Banks and Financial Institutions Driving Customer Engagement for Banking in the UAE

Here are some of the customer engagement strategies used by the big players in the UAE’s banking and finance sector

RAKBANK

Is relentlessly focusing on user education reflections in the surge in adoption and usage
RAKBANK is one of the largest and most prominent banks in the UAE. They have prioritized user education in their strategy. The Bank is focused on informing and educating customers about contactless and digital wallet payments via various digital channels such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Garmin Pay, Fitbit Pay, and SwatchPAY. RAKBANK communicated about the safety and convenience offered by the digital payment options to nudge a habit formation among customers.

Commercial Bank of Dubai

Is prioritising financial inclusion and is optimising customer onboarding process
The customer’s shopping preferences are changing from physical stores to predominantly online channels, thus changing the mode of payment and banking in general. Digitization of services has accelerated in the last two years by the pandemic and thus resulted in a phenomenal uptick in digital adoption. Commercial Bank of Dubai has introduced end-to-end seamless onboarding, to make the process easier and faster for customers. Consumers can now open an account from the comfort of their homes in under two minutes and less than ten clicks using their Emirates ID.

Mashreq Bank:

Is unlocking meaningful engagement with customers by deep diving and extensively studying customer behaviour and personalization

Banks and fintech have had a tremendous opportunity to deepen their relationships with their customers in the last two years. These relationships need not be limited to transactions but can span multiple other use cases like school fee payment, food order, and other services the Bank can facilitate. Banks need to make the customer’s life easy across all digital touchpoints and provide relevant and personalized experiences for various age groups and segments. Mashreq Bank analyses customer behaviour understands it and makes proactive decisions to personalize communication using AI-enabled optimization.

Banks by understanding the different areas of customer experiences can come up with an extensive customer engagement strategy to reduce the gaps between customers and the bank. The significance of the digital banking experience can be attributed to the various benefits offered like reduced operational costs, retaining customers, and the ability to stay ahead of competitors by using the latest technologies. The customer experience in the banking ecosphere holds massive untapped potential for growth, from meeting the day-to-day needs of consumers and focusing on preparing for disruptive future technologies.

Best Credit Cards to Get in 2021

Posted on May 17, 2021May 19, 2021 by admin

Financial health is an important element in our lives. In times like these, it is important that we must ensure that our financial health is in best order. Credit cards are one way where we can ensure that our spends are rewarded in a good measure through loyalty rewards which is a form of a saving. This article talks about some of the best credit cards in the UAE across categories such as premium, cashback and no fee cards.

Things to note before one applies for a credit card.

We must understand our financial ability on repayments before signing up for a credit card. Since this can have a significant impact on one’s credit score which happens to be a basic requirement for any future credit requirements, one must ensure that the need and ability to pay in a disciplined manner is evident.

Some of the top reasons why customers opt for credit card are.

Loyalty rewards in the form of cashback, reward points or airmiles are standard feature in most of the cards. Credit card issuing companies attract customers by offering value through attractive loyalty rewards.
Features such as airport lounge access, valet service, buy 1 get 1 offers, promotional balance transfer rates, free movies etc., are popular and does provided value to customers who use these services.
Most of the credit card issuing companies offer attractive joining offers to new customers. These can be in the form of promotional cashback rates for a specific period, joining bonus airmiles, free hotel stays and so on.

Soul wallet’s extensive research on products available in the UAE is primarily to cater to customer needs in clearly understanding which the suitable cards are customized to one’s individual spend patterns.

Most of the products listed below are from our partners who compensate us. However, the review is completely unbiased and an individual opinion of Soulwallet based on product features, customer feedback etc., One must be aware that some of the product features might change at the time of your application, hence we recommend that customers revalidate specific reward features prior to application.

Best Cashback Credit Cards 2021

Product Name	Bank Name	Annual Fee	Profit / Interest Rate	Minimum Salary	Top Reasons	Apply Now
Cashback Credit Card	FAB	315	3.50%	5000	Ramadan Offer: AED 250 Cashback for Expatriates within 30 days (valid up to 31-May-21), Ramadan Offer: AED 750 Cashback for UAE Nationals within 30 days (valid up to 31-May-21), 5% cashback on supermarket (including online), fuel and utilities.2% cashback on non-AED spends. 1% cashback on all other retail spends, including online shopping Up to 2 discounted tickets at VOX. No limits on how much you can earn with FAB Cashback Credit Card	Apply for FAB Cashback Credit Card Online
World Credit Card	RAKBANK	0	3.25%	20000	Monthly spend AED 15,000 to AED 19,999 earn cashback on: Travel - 5% (max AED 300),Supermarkets - 5% (max AED 200) Monthly spend above AED 20,000 earn cashback on: Travel - 10% (max AED 600) , Supermarkets - 10% (max AED 400) Monthly Spend : Up to AED 14,999 - 3% (international), 1% (domestic) Monthly spend AED 14,999 to 29,999 - 4% (international), 2% (domestic) Above AED 30,000 - 5% (international), 3% (domestic) 50% off at VOX cinema tickets Free Delivery of Fuel by CAFU at your doorstep; Free Travel Accident & Medical Cover Free for first year.	Apply for RAKBANK World Credit Card Online
Cashback Plus Card	Emirates Islamic	299	3.49%	5000	Cashback on Supermarket, Education, Dining; telecom for total monthly spend level: Up to AED 2,499 - 0% cashback Between AED 2,500; AED 7,499 - 3% cashback Between AED 7,500; AED 14,999 - 5% cashback Above AED 15,000 - 10% cashback Maximum Cash Back Per Month - AED 200 for above categories, except Education as the cap is AED400 Earn up to 10% cashback on specific categories; Embedded Nol chip for RTA benefits; Unlimited Lounge Access; Complimentary Golf any day of the week	Apply for Emirates Islamic Cashback Plus Card Online
Super Saver Credit Card	CBD	420	3.45%	8000	10% cashback on the following everyday retail spend categories, capped at AED 200 per category, per month. A minimum monthly total spend of AED 3,000 across all categories is required to start earning cashback Bills (e.g. Telecomm Bills, Utilities Bills and Government-Linked Payments) Education (e.g. Schools, and Colleges/Universities in the UAE and abroad), Supermarket (e.g. Grocery Stores), Transport (e.g. Fuel), Earn up to 1% Cashback on every AED 2 on all other spends, with no caps. Maximum Cashback per month is AED 200 per category (800 in total). Frist year free on primary card	Apply CBD Super Saver Credit Card Online
Cashback Credit Card	Citibank	0	3.25%	8000	3% on all International Spends, 2% on grocery/supermarket spends and 1% on all other spends. No caps, no minimum spend, no redemption process and no spend categories excluded. Exclusive Soulwallet offer of AED 300 gift card on booking	Apply for Citi Cashback Credit Card Online

Best Reward Points Credit Cards 2021

Product Name	Bank Name	Annual Fee	Profit / Interest Rate	Minimum Salary	Top Reasons	Apply Online
Go4it Platinum Credit Card	Emirates NBD	0	3.25%	12000	Exclusive cinema offers, Life time free card along with a AED 300 Noon.com voucher Earn Plus Points for every spend and redeem them instantly at your favourite stores. You can also convert your Plus Points to Frequent Flyer Miles or Cash back. 5 Plus Points for every AED 200 spend on weekends. 4 Plus Points for every AED 200 spend on RTA. 1 Plus Points for every AED 200 spend on weekdays	Apply for Emirates NBD Go4it Platinum Credit Card Online
Lulu Platinum Credit Card	ADCB	0	3.25%	15000	No Annual Fee, Interest-free balance transfers, Redeem reward points instantly at Lulu, Benefits at Ferrari World & Yas Water world, Lulupoints can be redeemed with supplementary card. Earn LuluPoints for every 1 AED spent earn 5 LuluPoints on purchases made at all Lulu stores in UAE. For every 1 AED spent earn 1.25 LuluPoints on purchases made elsewhere subject to meeting a monthly spend goal of AED 3,500 (Lulu elsewhere). 5000 Lulupoints gives voucher worth AED 50. Points can be redeemed instantly at the checkout counters of Lulu Hypermarket across UAE. Can be redeemed for as low as 5000 Lulupoints with supplementary card as well.	Apply for ADCB Lulu Platinum Credit Card Online
EDGE Card	ADIB	750	2.99%	15000	10% cashback on all dining spend in UAE, Extensive travel insurance and protection, ADIB Rewards Program, Earn 2.5 reward points for 1 AED you spend on your card. ;Points earned can be used towards airline tickets, shopping mall vouchers and Club Apparel gift cards.	Apply for ADIB EDGE Card Online
GEMS Titanium Credit Card	FAB	0	3.5%	5000	No annual fee. Up to 4.25% fixed discount on advanced payment of GEMS fees. 10% Cashback with Shop Smart. Enjoy access to airport lounges across the Middle East. Enjoy special offers at restaurants, premium retail etc. Earn 1 Star for every AED 1 spent on Domestic purchases Earn 1.75 Stars for every AED 1 spent on International purchases Redeem your Stars for Etihad Guest Miles, Skywards Miles from Emirates, or to book tickets on any airline through Stars Travel Portal.	Apply for FAB GEMS Titanium Credit Card Online
Rewards Credit Card	Citibank	0	3.25%	8000	Earn ThankYou Reward points on all spends, VoucherSkout-Signup offer, Enjoy a 12-month amazon premium membership free, Get AED 300 worth of gift cards exclusively on Soulwallet Earn 1.5 ThankYou Points for any USD 1 spent in foreign currency Earn 1 ThankYou Points for any USD 1 spent in local currency (AED) 10 ThankYou Points for every USD 1 spent on hotel bookings at Kaligo.com With your ThankYou Points you have the flexibility to redeem for travel rewards, merchandise, gift vouchers and many other rewarding experiences Choose from merchandise ranging from apparel to electronics to home goods and more Pay with Points for your purchases through SMS or Citibank Online	Apply for Citi Rewards Credit Card Online

Best Travel Credit Cards 2021

Product Name	Bank Name	Annual Fee	Profit / Interest Rate	Minimum Salary	Top Reasons	Apply Online
Booking.com Infinite Card	ADIB	2000	3.29%	20000	200,000 sign-up reward points, Flight and hotel booking discounts, Extensive premium travel & lifestyle benefits Earn rewards on all spends & cashback on specific categories through ADIB Rewards Program - Earn 3 reward points for every AED 1 domestic or international spend Redeem your points against flight tickets/hotel bookings on Any Airline, Any Hotel Worldwide or Shopping Mall Vouchers or Club Apparel gift cards. Redemption Value: Every 10,000 points = 50; every 100,000 points = AED 1,000 Shopping mall vouchers Redeem Reward points against shopping mall vouchers: Sharjah Mega Mall, Dubai Festival City, Abu Dhabi Mall, Sahara Centre - Sharjah	Apply for ADIB Booking.com Infinite Card Online
Etihad Guest Infinite Credit Card	FAB	2500	3.5%	30000	75% Etihad Guest Miles Discount Voucher; Fast Track Enrolment to Etihad Guest Gold Membership; Complimentary Inflight Wifi Vouchers; Optional Etihad Guest Miles Accelerator;55,000 welcome Etihad Guest Miles Domestic transactions (AED): 4.5 Miles earned per AED 10, International transactions (non-AED): 6.0 Miles earned per AED 10 Etihad or Etihad Airways partners: 9.0 Miles earned per AED 10 Balance transfer (from other bank credit cards): 2.5 Miles earned per AED 10	Apply for FAB Etihad Guest Infinite Credit Card Online
Premier Credit Card	Citibank	0	3.50%	15000	Complimentary Movies and Golf Offers, VoucherSkout-Signup offer, Enjoy a 12-month amazon premium membership free, Get AED 500 worth of gift card of your choice exclusively on Soulwallet (pls refer to terms and conditions) Earn 2 ThankYou Points per USD on international spent and 1.5 ThankYou Points per USD of local spend With ThankYou Points you have the flexibility to redeem for travel rewards, merchandise, gift vouchers and many other rewarding experiences. Transfer your ThankYou Points to 15 airline and hotel partners for flights and hotel stays. Book flights, hotels, rental cars and holiday packages with no blackout dates for bookings Choose from merchandise ranging from apparel to electronics to home goods and more	Apply for Citi Premier Credit Card Online
Emirates Skywards World Elite Mastercard Credit Card	RAKBANK	1499	2.45%	20000	Get up to 160,000 Bonus Skywards Miles, Emirates Skywards Silver Tier Status, Access to 900+ airport lounges across the world, Fast Track to Gold Tier status, 1-night free stay at Rixos JBR Earn Emirates Skywards Miles on all spends based on spend tiers AED 2,000 to AED 4,999 - 600 Skywards miles AED 5,000 to AED 9,999 - 2,000 Skywards miles AED 10,000 to AED 19,999 - 5,000 Skywards miles AED 20,000 to AED 29,999 - 8,000 Skywards miles AED 30,000 to AED 39,999 - 11,000 Skywards miles AED 40,000 to AED 49,999 - 16,000 Skywards miles AED 50,000 to AED 74,999 - 20,000 Skywards miles AED 75,000 to AED 99,999 - 30,000 Skywards miles AED 100,000 - 40,000 Skywards miles Skywards Miles award will be reduced to 50% if spend in special categories (such as Charities, Government Services, Bill Payments, Schools, Transits, Transport, Telecommunication, Real Estate, Petrol/Gas stations, Supermarkets, Health & Beauty, Club Membership, Motion Pictures & Theatres, Computer Services, Automobiles Vehicles) exceeds 50% of total spends for the month.	Apply for RAKBANK Emirates Skywards World Elite Mastercard Credit Card Online
Skywards Signature Credit Card	Emirates NBD	700	3.25%	15000	Best-in-class Skywards Miles earning - earn and redeem miles; Good lifestyle offers; Complimentary, unlimited worldwide lounge access; Exclusive Concierge Desk and privileges Earn Skyward Miles per 1 USD of spend: Earn 1.5 Miles on Emirates and fly Dubai spends Earn 1.5 Miles on duty free, online food delivery and car booking apps spends Earn 1 Mile on International spends Earn 0.75 Miles on Domestic spends	Apply for Emirates NBD Skywards Signature Credit Card Online

Key Tips for First time Credit Card Users
Credit cards can be outstanding tools to better your financial health. Not only can they extend you valuable credit to purchase necessary goods or services, but they can provide attractive rewards that can be used for meals and vacations.

That said, for first-time credit card users, credit cards can be intimidating. It’s easy to hear horror stories about how credit cards have destroyed an individual’s financial livelihood or have led to massive interest charges that are essentially inescapable.

Because of this, it’s worth your time to learn some first principles and key tips so that you can safely use a credit card. By following this advice, you can get the most out of your credit card and safeguard your financial health—whether you are a first-time credit card user in the UAE or anywhere else.

Some Key Tips and Strategies on Safe Credit Card Use
Before looking at any type of credit card, it is critical to ensure that you have a steady income. While credit cards can be immensely rewarding, you can only obtain those immense rewards if you can pay off your balance.

Without a steady income, it becomes difficult to pay off that credit card balance. The longer that you don’t pay off your balance, the more that you will be paying to your credit card company. Even if you are just making minimum payments, hefty interest expenses can be extremely costly. Double-digit interest rates can quickly add up. Therefore, before signing up, make sure that you will have consistent enough income to pay off your monthly statements. By doing so, you will avoid a very ugly financial situation.

Next, you want to make sure you are signing up for the right credit card. As similar as credit cards may seem, they offer different terms and rewards. You will certainly want to review your potential interest rate and any penalties that will come from late payments. Beyond the negative aspects, however, you will want to take a close look at your unique spend and your targeted credit card’s rewards.

Rewards are some of the best parts of using a credit card. All credit cards offer points that you can then exchange for rewards, but credit cards offers different exchange rates for certain things. For instance, one credit card may offer slightly more points for restaurant and dining spending and another may offer slightly more points for booking flights. You’ll want to read the fine print and sign up for a card that gives you more points for your common expenses.

Associated with this, try to avoid free credit cards. By free credit cards, we mean credit cards that do not have annual fees. This is for several reasons. For one thing, free cards may not be best from a savings perspective. They tend to have higher interest rates, so you may end up paying more if you don’t pay off your card in full. Along with this, cards with annual fees tend to offer better rewards. These cash-back rewards can be substantial and may even eclipse the amount that you pay in your card’s annual fee. While the initial payment may be annoying or frustrating, chances are that you will get much more value through a card with a fee, rather than a free card.

From avoiding free credit cards, you’ll next want to understand the eligibility requirements for your chosen card. For as great as a credit card may be for you, you may not meet its eligibility requirements. As just one simple example, in the UAE, a minimum of AED 5,000 to qualify for a credit card. However, different types of cards cater to different income segments, so you will want to read the fine print to see if you qualify. By reading the fine print now rather than waiting to do so after you submit your application, you won’t waste time and will find the best credit card for you.

You will also want to make sure that you are collecting and providing all necessary documents to complete your credit card application. This may vary depending on the credit card and application that you submit. However, you will need to provide identification documents like an Emirates ID (in the UAE), passport, and/or visa. You may also need to offer additional documents like income certificates, bank statements, payslips, and more. If you work for a small employer or a relatively new company, the bank may need to perform an employer visit or telephone verification.

What does this mean for you? Ultimately, make sure that you have this type of information at the ready. By having it in your vicinity before you start the process, you will make your life easier.

Another key tip is to avoid getting too close to your credit limit. Every credit card user has something called a credit utilization ratio. This is essentially the percentage of outstanding credit that is available to you.

There is a fine line here. The basic rule is that you should the lower your credit utilization ratio, the better. A high credit utilization ratio can harm your credit score. However, that should not stop you from responsibility using your credit card. You should follow your best judgment here and find a credit utilization ratio that meets your needs and does not harm your credit score.

Finally, be patient. While it can be tremendously exciting getting a new credit card, you don’t necessarily want to jump at the first opportunity. Make sure that you are looking at several different types of credit cards. At the very least, you should do some Internet research on those specific cards to see if one suits you over another. Also, don’t hesitate to call the specific credit card company to find answers to any questions you may have. By being patient and completing your due diligence, you can make this experience much easier.

Getting Started on Your Credit Card Journey
Getting your first credit card can be intimidating, yet exciting. There are risks but they can be mitigated. By following the tips and advice above, you will be in an excellent position to responsibly use your new credit card.

Five Reasons to Consider Doing a Balance Transfer on Your Credit Card
The sudden rise of COVID-19 has presented varying degrees of economic stress among UAE residents. Institutions like the UAE Central Bank and some of the UAE’s biggest banks have acted swiftly to relieve some of this unexpected, yet very real financial pressure. Yet even with that assistance, this is a great time for all UAE residents to take a hard look at their current finances.

There are several ways that you can proceed, but we believe that one of the first things you should do is closely look at the balances on your credit cards. For many of us, our credit card balances are some of our highest payments per month. While we may be able to pay off our monthly credit card balances during “normal times, COVID-19 this increased time of uncertainty may make those payments much more difficult.

If you are feeling this type of financial pressure, you may want to seriously consider something called a balance transfer. Balance transfers, put simply, let you move high-interest debt onto another credit card that has a lower interest rate. By doing this, you can keep some of your hard-earned money in your pocket.

To better understand the power of balance transfers, we want to highlight five reasons why you should consider them. Whether one or all of the reasons resonate with you, we believe balance transfers can be compelling options in this era of COVID-19.

The first reason to go forward with a balance transfer centers on your current credit card interest payments. Simply put, balance transfers can temporarily eliminate a high annual percentage rate on your current credit card, allowing more of your payment to go toward your principal. If you are in deep credit card debt, this is a huge deal. A significantly lower (or even zero) interest rate means that you are getting significantly closer toward a zero balance. Therefore, even if there is a small fee to complete a balance transfer, a lower APR may be worth it.

Directly tied with lower interest payments is the ability to save cash in the long run. It’s pretty simple. Allocating more of your monthly payment to your debt outstanding rather than interest is going to keep more cash in your pocket. It is a substantial step on your way toward financial freedom. A balance transfer can offer that unique opportunity, letting you have a few key months where you can make your outstanding principal more manageable.

Balance transfers can also be a great idea because they may be able to raise your credit score. The effect isn’t direct, but there are some ways that your credit score can be improved with a balance transfer. Most notably, it can reduce your credit utilization ratio. This is assuming that you don’t close your old credit card account. Along with paying off your principal, you may see a bump in your overall credit score.

Fourth, a balance transfer can help you build good habits and instill discipline. One primary reason why borrowers seek balance transfers is to obtain some breathing room from overbearing interest payments and debt. Balance transfers can provide this, but they also provide great opportunities to get into great financial habits. For instance, paying down your balance every month and spending less than you make are terrific habits to build.

Finally, credit card balance transfers can make you happier. They can provide both short-term and long-term financial relief. By capitalizing on this relief and getting a better hold over your finances, you’ll feel happier and less stressed. This is a real benefit—especially as we are living through COVID-19.

A Compelling Option
These are just some of the benefits of credit card balance transfers. Granted, you will want to read the fine print and find a balance transfer that makes the most sense for you. Some balance transfer arrangements have a low (or zero) APR, but ramp up significantly after several months or if you miss one payment.

Even so, balance transfers can be a valuable tool in personal finance. Whether or not you choose to use this tool, we encourage you to do your research. You may find that a balance transfer is just the thing you need to get your financial freedom.

Soulwallet is a personal finance comparison portal in the UAE. With a team of “out of the box” thinkers and a deep understanding of the UAE consumer banking industry, we help customers make the best choices while shopping for financial products such as credit cards and loans.

Are financial decisions easy?

Posted on October 1, 2018October 31, 2019 by admin

After much thought, I decided upon embarking on the second innings of my entrepreneurial journey. The path that took me to reach where I am today hasn’t been a cakewalk. At times an experience alone can unknowingly pave the way for us to take certain decisions. But were those experiences always easy? Well, not really as you would soon find out.

As much as I love venturing outdoors, summers in Dubai literally force me to stay within the limits of my perfectly air conditioned home. Being an avid fitness enthusiast, this means visiting the gym regularly. That day at the gym I was politely reminded about the impending renewal of my annual membership. As I was about to swipe my credit card, the manager informed that the loyalty programs’ benefit of my card entitled me for a complimentary renewal. Needless to say, I was overjoyed hearing this but right at that moment it struck me that all these years I have been burning a hole in my pocket unknowingly. Had I been aware of these benefits earlier, I would not have had to shell out such enormous amounts of money. I would have instead used my credit card to the best of its potential. The banker in me felt a bit cheated for having lost out on a potential savings opportunity. I realized that perhaps I wasn’t the only one carrying unexploited credit cards in their wallets.

The next instance was at the Dubai Airport, my husband was traveling and forgot an important document. Of course, I rushed to the airport in peak traffic and handed over the car to the valet. Once I handed over documents and bid adieu to dear hubby it was time to redeem my car by paying fee. I was pleasantly surprised to see my parking ticket because it offered complimentary valet parking on the credit card neatly tucked in my clutch. I had a feeling of déjà vu.

Haven’t we all faced situations similar to this? Whether we end up using all the benefits or not is a prerogative best left to the person concerned. But we must be aware of what our credit cards can offer as additional benefits apart from only paying bills and taking care of shopping trips.

It wasn’t the only time I realized my mistake and one such experience literally pushed me to the brim of my patience.

Like most expats in the UAE, we sacrifice a lot to realize the dream of building a house back in our home country. We stretch our limits to save each dirham. After my husband and I had finished finalizing the deal of our dream home, we religiously kept paying the pre-EMI. At that point, little did we know that we were in for a rude shock. Almost 2 years down the line, our loan officer informed that we had only been servicing the interest and not paying towards the loan principal. This essentially meant, we had lost out on substantial savings. To top it all, we realized that this was definitely avoidable. Coupled with these experiences, I wondered if my ignorance about the importance of proper investment decisions could affect my long term financial management.

For the uninitiated, it is always a challenge to take the smartest of financial decisions.

Especially in our 20s and 30s, when we have to decide about various financial needs like car loans, home loans, personal loans, etc., it definitely helps to have a portal that compares and assists with our financial decision making.

With a career in HR spanning over 17 years, I have met people from all walks of life seeking a simple, transparent and trusted friend who can help us with financial planning. Somebody who can read the fine print, compare various products and help us chose the best, not necessarily the cheapest. This triggered the inception of SoulWallet, an unbiased and comprehensive comparison portal for the financial products like Credit Cards, Personal Loans, Home Loans and Car Loans and more. At SoulWallet we have earnestly tried to create a virtual friend who helps make financial decisions with confidence.

10 things to know before you take a loan in UAE

Posted on September 26, 2018October 23, 2020 by admin

10 things to know before you take a loan in UAE

It is common today that you need a loan for your day to day expenditures. In every country, banks have different rules and regulations to offer loans to its customers. In the same way, United Arab Emirates (UAE) banks have their own rules and regulations which must be followed to obtain a loan.

There are different types of loans available in UAE, for example, personal loan, car loan, home loan and business loans. For every type of loan, you have different requirements. But you should know what are the steps to take any loan you must consider them. These are the steps or things which you must know before taking any loan

Rate of interest

Different moneylenders offer distinctive measures of credits at different interest rates. Complete an intensive statistical surveying on various banks and their offers. Banks typically offer loans at higher rates than conventional Islamic banks, for example, Emirates Islamic bank for home loans. Ensure you converse with numerous banks previously going to a choice. This will enable you to make a better choice for taking any type of loan.

Know about the required Documents

Documents required for loans are normally

Salaried/Self-employed

UAE national ID card or a valid passport
In case the applicant is an expat then a valid residency visa for the UAE is also needed.
If the bank requires a salary transfer then a letter of salary transfer will also be needed.

Banks may have distinctive prerequisites for age and employing company as well.

In the event that you work for the private sector, requirements for least business period and qualified age might be higher as compared to Government sector.

Know about your creditworthiness

If you have acquired any loan in the past, at that point there will be a record of your financial record with the bank. This is an extremely powerful method for knowing regardless of whether you are able to pay off any loan. If you missed a few due deadlines previously, your record score would have a tendency to be lower and banks may charge higher interest rates or give you a small loan.

In case you’re a first-time borrower, your financial assessment will be dictated by your pay, age, background and so on. : Each UAE bank will have a minimum standard salary they require you to earn in order to give you any loan.

Secured and Unsecured loans

There are secured and unsecured loans which banks usually offer. Unsecured loans, for the most part, are lower in sums and charge higher rates of interests as they don’t include any guarantee to be set against the loans. In any case, acquiring an unsecured loan is generally easier than secured loans.

Secured loans include putting a collateral against the loan amount, which may be reallocated by the bank, on the off chance that you can’t reimburse the loan. Secured loans are esteemed against the estimation of the property/asset kept as collateral against the loans.

Find out your correct necessity with regards to the sort of debt that you have to dispose of, and choose whether you’ll be OK with a higher rate of interest or putting an asset as a guarantee.

Least expensive ain’t the best

Try not to go for the least expensive loans with daze confidence; rather, take time to compute the genuine cost of borrowing which incorporates the loan sum, the length of the loan, reimbursement frequency, fees and interest charges. It is likewise fundamental to understand the financial guidelines the bank will follow in modifying rates.

Guarantee that whoever is advising you by taking a loan can take you through all the charges in detail and explain the total cost and hidden charges.

Have alternatives

As a rule, a bank may not be your solitary alternative to acquiring a loan. On the other hand that you have a strong financial background, you might be qualified for some credit cards, for example, Citibank that would give you a chance to complete your activity and charge 0% interest for a year. Or then again in case you’re a piece of some trading organization, you may have the capacity to get cash from them at lower interest rate what banks offer.

Don’t take a high amount of loan

Sometimes, banks will offer you more cash, in view of your credit assessment. Abstain from falling into these traps as this won’t just raise the weight of loans yet, in addition, you’ll wind up paying more interest on a little amount of money.

Acquiring a loan has something other than just completing the paperwork and getting the cash in hand. Numerous banks charge processing expenses, enrollment charges and so on as a rule in a level of the measure of cash you wish to get. Discover which banks offer the best arrangement, work it out a little and discover the amount you’ll have to pay the bank, including every one of the charges, expenses, and premium and so on.

Know about Islamic Finance

There are numerous banks in UAE that provide sharia compliance products. Utilizing the Murabaha, the bank would typically purchase the product and after that re-sell the product to the client at a higher cost. The profit can be made in regularly scheduled payments and is referred to as the profit rate.

Early settlement fee

If you are intending to take your loan for a long time, however considering paying it off before at that point, the early settlement expense turns into an imperative factor in your choice. This is an expense forced on you in the event that you choose to pay off your loan early.

How you repay your debt

This is the final step to know how you can repay your loan. Banks offer from one year to five long payment plan with an alternate rate of interest for each offer. Be strategic and discover what amount you would be able to pay in EMIs (Equated Monthly Installment).

An informed and cautious approach to borrowing is the need of the hour.