An Honest Review of GoTyme Bank, the Newest Digital App in PH

Landed on the Philippine shores in October, GoTyme Bank is one of the newest fintech companies to tap into Filipinos’ love for seamless money management applications. A partnership between the Gokongwei family and the Singapore-based online banking group Tyme, the newly launched digital bank aims to bring financial inclusion to the country with its comprehensive selection of products — from free money transfers to a rewarding points system and a sleek VISA debit card. 

To save you time and effort, The Beat Asia rolled up our sleeves and tested out GoTyme Bank’s services and app features. Check out our honest review of the platform below.

Opening a GoTyme Bank Account

Whether you’re a first-time bank user or have experience across multiple digital financial platforms, signing up for a GoTyme Bank account will just take five minutes (or less) of your time. At least, that’s what the company claims on its official website.

In our case, it took us six minutes to finish the entire process, from filling up personal information to taking a selfie to activate the Face ID feature and scanning valid identification cards. Fairly, the process of opening a GoTyme Bank account was smooth and not bad at all.

Accounts and Interest Rate

GoTyme Bank allows users to open multiple accounts depending on financial needs and budgeting strategy. There’s the Everyday Account, a non-earning wallet for online payments, shopping, groceries, and bank transfers. Meanwhile, the GoSave feature is a savings account that lets you earn a 3% annual interest rate.

Cashback and Rewards

With the Philippines’ inflation soaring to 8%, GoTyme Bank’s 3% interest rate might be too small for a typical 9-5 employee. Fortunately, the bank has a unique rewards system that lets you earn points every time you purchase from any of its partner stores including Robinsons Supermarket, Shopwise, and The Marketplace.

To test it out, The Beat Asia headed straight to the nearest GoTyme Bank kiosk to claim the free VISA debit card, which we would later use to shop for groceries. As soon as we arrived at Robinsons Supermarket, we were greeted by two friendly GoTyme representatives and they immediately walked us through the process of obtaining the card.

Afterwards, we topped it up with P500 and bought health and wellness essentials at the supermarket. We spent a total of P245.50 and instantly received a notification saying we earned 20% from our first purchase — that’s 49.1 points, which we can withdraw as cash once we’re eligible for redemption.

App Interface and User Experience

From the get-go, we can already tell that the GoTyme Bank app was made for the modern Filipino.

Despite being nearly absent of color, the designers managed to make the platform look youthful and premium. Unlike its competitors, the digital app shows all the transactions at the bottom of the main page, allowing users to keep track of their financial activity — from deposits and cash-ins to points earned and money spent on shopping.

While the app has everything stored in one dashboard, it doesn’t feel cluttered and overloaded with information, which pointedly addressed the reality that most Filipinos have trouble paying attention to multiple things at once.

In terms of protection, we appreciate that the platform hides the debit card number and cash and savings amount by default. Adding another layer of security, the app automatically logs out after three minutes of inactivity, which is a good safety measure to block unauthorized access.

Surprisingly, for a new platform, the GoTyme Bank app loads very fast. And it could actually be (arguably) one of the quickest, if not the fastest, digital banking apps in the Philippines we’ve tried.

Verdict

A purely app-based platform, GoTyme Bank goes way beyond traditional banking with a flurry of money-saving and safety features built into the experience. Purposely designed for Filipino hustlers who barely have time to transact in an actual bank, GoTyme's robot-like kiosks scattered throughout the country make up for the lack of physical branches.

But, a new bank is not without its drawbacks. During its launch, the fintech company promised that GoTyme users will have access to “high-yield investments.” We scoured the app and found no option for stocks and equities, which is a total bummer if you ask us.

Additionally, if GoTyme Bank is serious about hitting its target of 10 million active clients, it should bolster its marketing strategy by launching eye-catching online and offline ads. As of writing, there are hardly any commercials or advertisements about the fintech company, which may hurt its revenue in the long run.

All things considered, GoTyme Bank is a promising digital app worth a shot for those looking for an on-the-go financial management and savings companion.