Endcash: the Digital Wallet

Endcash, a product of Republic Bank here in TT, is a digital wallet that aims to change how we send, spend, receive and manage our money.

I want to start by telling everybody who is looking to sell goods or products, especially if you are inside one of the many fetes, or a vendor on the road: you need to sign up for Endcash ASAP so that you can offer people a digital way for them to pay you if you do not have a point-of-sale terminal.

Endcash only works with people who have a TT bank account, but it's still better than nothing, even this late in the game for Carnival.

It was launched back in March 2021, and two full years later, it’s still relatively unknown. We are also now seeing other digital wallets coming into the marketplace, with news from Paywise, TSTT and Pesh.

For a long time, we here in TT have been clamouring for solutions that rival popular peer-to-peer apps like Cashapp, Zelle and Venmo in the US. These new digital-wallet solutions are going to fill some of those gaps. Whether they do it successfully and can bring up the adoption rate remains to be seen.

Let me first explain what a digital wallet is: a software application that allows users to store and manage their digital currency, payment card, and personal information.

This information can then be used to make transactions and payments online, in-app, or in-store.

The digital wallet acts as an electronic version of a physical wallet, providing a secure, convenient, and easily accessible way to manage and use your financial information.

Setting up Endcash is relatively simple.

• Download the app or register on the web.

• Add money to your wallet with a credit card or your Linx card.

• Send, spend or receive money from friends/family.

• You can network with other users,

• You can find nearby businesses accepting Endcash on their digital map.

This is what you can do on Endcash for free:

• Open your Endcash account

• Monthly service

• Send money

• Receive money

• Pay for goods and services in-store, online or remotely

• Real-time alerts (uses data from your device)

• 24/7 customer support (normal airtime rules apply)

These actions will incur a charge:

• Loading your wallet – $3.50

• Transfer Endcash funds to your bank account/branch – $10

• Cash out to manager’s cheque: $30 ($10 cash out fee plus $20 manager’s cheque fee)

Daily transaction limits:

• Transfers between users: maximum $1,000 per transfer

• Maximum value of transfers per day: $3,000

• Payment to merchants: maximum $10,000 a day

• Load your wallet: maximum value per load $1,000; maximum per month $10,000

Transaction times:

• Wallet-to-wallet transfers – instantly

• Wallet loads – instantly

• Wallet-to-bank-account transfers – within one business day

• Manager cheque/ cash withdrawal – within seven business days from cash out request

I’ve been using the app since December, and I have a few thoughts.

Whilst it's nice to finally have options in the market, there is room for improvement.

Here is my big pro for the app. If you are going to a festival, an event, the food truck area in Eddie Hart, or places you know for certain that accept Endcash and won’t have a point-of-sale terminal, then I think Endcash works well.

These are festivals, parties, events and places where you would prefer to leave your physical wallet safely in the car. You can load up money in your digital wallet, scan the vendor's Endcash QR code and pay for your goods. This is all providing you have data on your phone.

The cons for me are pretty simple – but important. The nearby feature to find businesses that accept Endcash has rarely worked for me. I can hardly find enough businesses that have accepted Endcash to lead me to really think about using it.

When I do find a business that accepts Endcash, they usually have a point-of-sale terminal and I always end up paying that way, because I can easily tap or insert the card, versus having to load my Endcash wallet, pay the $3.50 load fee, and then send the payment.

How Cashapp and Zelle work in the US is that the apps debit your card at the time of purchase and you don’t have to spend any time loading money into the digital wallet. That’s one of the biggest things that needs to change. As of right now, it adds more steps to the checkout process, and people will always go for the easier option.

Most banks also offer you free use of your cards at the point of sale as opposed to spending money to load funds into the wallet.

This will work better when more businesses start to accept Endcash and you don’t have to go through loading funds to the wallet before use.

I will suggest for this Carnival, every business and vendor register with it, though. That way people can move through Carnival parties and the road without cash and can use their digital wallets to pay you. Again, this only works for people with TT bank accounts.

Keron Rose is a digital strategist who works with Caribbean entrepreneurs on building their digital presence and monetising their platforms.

Learn more at KeronRose.com or listen to the Digipreneur FM Podcast on Apple Podcast/Spotify/Google Podcast.