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DESIGN THINKING: Whole Bank and Payments While Traveling

Almost everyone we know has travelled at least once in his/her lifetime. The main and important thing besides the passports is having money at all times, whether it is cash or card at all times and making sure that they are all safe and sound.

Our client is Carol Holmes who is currently in charge of the Innovation Department of Whole Bank. The company wants to migrate from traditional banking to more technology and user-friendly system.

Their customers tend to travel frequently and face some issues with credit/debit cards while traveling. In order to tackle that they need a user-friendly quick solution to make payments safe, quick and hassle-free.

Things to take into consideration when travelling within the US or to a foreign country.

• There is a chance of cards being stolen, lost or damaged.
• Card stations might not be able to read the card for various reasons.
• Travellers will not have an internet connection at all times.
• (even though we were asked to ignore this point I would like to point it out, as it will be discussed further) security issues
• The customer might forget to unblock the card for travelling.

The Interviews

A short interview was conducted between 5 people and the main points were gathered in order to make one or two important additions to the application.

The 5 interviewees:

1. Female, 21, Graphic Designer. Typically travels within the US, sometimes to Europe.
2. Male, 36, Project Manager. Travels mainly within the US, sometimes to the other parts of the world, mainly developed countries.
3. Male, 28, Software developer. Travels mainly within the US, sometimes to Europe, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America.
4. Female, 34, Business Owner/Instructor. Travels within the US and sometimes Europe, South America.
5. Male, 36, Business Analyst. Travels a lot within the US, sometimes to Europe and Asia.

The following questions were asked:

1. How often do you travel?
2. How do you prefer to pay when travelling?
3. When abroad, do you always have an internet connection?
4. Please explain how you prepare financially when going abroad.
5. What issues have you faced with your card while travelling?

6. Has your card ever been blocked for “suspicious activity” while traveling and fixing this issue has been a huge burden for you?

7. Have you ever had your card stolen or lost?

8. Anything else to add?

From the interviews gathered it was apparent that all the interviewees travel at least 2–3 times a year and at least once to a foreign country. Obviously they have faced some issues with cards.

Three main issues were brought up by all the interviewees:

1. All the interviewees mentioned to facing blocking of their cards once for “fraud” at least once because they forgot to notify their bank, which pushed them to have to call the bank from abroad and unblock the car, which in return cost them a lot too.
2. When the card was stolen or lost it was a huge hassle to block the card, as they had to call the bank from abroad and block the card, which also blocked all of their other online payments, such as Apple and Android pay.
3. They might have been having issues with connection when trying to manage their bank account urgently.

Competitors:

Before moving to solution sketches let’s look at the other competitors which offer easy payment options for travellers.

There are many applications out there that try to make financial matters while travelling as easy as possible. Revolut being the leading one, offers payment with QR codes, so does Lydia and Paysera. Many of such companies offer including other companies’ payment methods, NFC, etc.

Solutions:

1. Travel Notification Feature

First solution making sure that you don’t have to call your bank from abroad just to let them know that you are travelling and they shouldn’t block your card.

The option at the very bottom saying “I'm travelling” will quickly let your bank know you are abroad. The icon will automatically detect your location. This way if the user has forgotten to let the bank know, he/she won’t have to call the bank to get the card unblocked. This way online and card payments will be possible.

2. Offline Payments

“I don’t have internet. How am I going to do any kind of a transaction?”

Well, offline payment should be made possible. The user can log in using fingerprint or face recognition.

The payments are also done and approved via fingerprints or face recognition, as it is the safest way. SMS confirmations might not work, as many users don’t use roaming while travelling, and the connection is quite bad.

The offline system works the following way:

1. The user transfers money to his/her offline account.
2. The user pays via QR code or NFC and it gets saved in the offline database and is applied to the account once the user goes online. The user is given 24 hours to come online and make the payment.
3. Payments are confirmed via fingerprint or face authentication.

3. Using ATMs.

How do we pay online when travelling?

Many terminals are using QR codes and NFC. By implementing these systems to the application online payments are made easy.

Since many travellers use cash too and might not have their card with them due to different reasons, withdrawing through registered ATMs will be possible with these systems. The app will let you find ATMs near you that carry this option. All transactions, are sent to the email or saved to the phone(also available during offline mode).

Emergency:

One extra point that was brought by two Interviewees was that when the card is stolen it is tough to get in touch with the bank sometimes to block the card, and when the card is blocked all online systems are blocked too, so online payments are almost impossible too.

Solution:

Two options are shown; 1) one if the customer feels very unsafe and wants to block every payment method, both the physical card and online, 2) customer will block the physical card immediately and his online payment methods will still be active. Emergency calls should be a given.

Conclusion:

Even now when travelling, especially to a faraway country, using cards can be sometimes problematic. Card theft, only cash locations, no data are one of the main issues that many people face. With the features of Whole Bank app lets their customers pay offline when there is no internet, or totally avoid using physical cards when paying online.

Many customers find paying with cards still very convenient because many companies have not made it easier or safer for them to use their mobile phones. Giving innovative options for customers to use whenever convenient and whatever conditions are the way to go.