𝕍𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕚𝕕 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨
Is it worth having an account and what functions does Vivid offer?
𝐭𝐥;𝐝𝐫 Yes, an account with Vivid is worthwhile, even if only as a second account. The account is unconditionally free with the standard plan. Stay away from the Invest, Crypto and Precious Metals sections. Open an account now and still get money for it? Link at the bottom. Otherwise read the article :)
I myself have had and used the account for almost 2 years. It is currently my dual account, while the main account is with DKB. I use the account for smaller direct debits and groceries. I recently opened the Investpocket because of the current "Invest without losing money" promotion. (More about the promotion below)
𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐭 𝐕𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝?
Vivid is a fintech and offers accounts on the Solarisbank platform; Vivid itself does not have a banking license. This is a significant difference to competitors such as N26 or C24 (yes, the names are correct, German creativity) In addition to the account and Visa card, Vivid also offers all kinds of other functions. A look at the Tinkoff Bank or Alipay app is enough to give you an idea of where things could go. Tinkoff is also one of Vivid's financial backers.
𝐊𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐨
The account can be managed in 2 different modes, Standard or Prime. Prime is available either for €9.9 per month, by inviting other users or as a promotion, e.g. for new customers. In Standard, €200 per month can be withdrawn free of charge. Likewise, 200€ Topup (deposit by credit card) per month is free of charge. Prime increases both to €1,000. Your account has a DE IBAN and is managed by Solarisbank with deposit protection up to €100,000. Custody fees are due from €250,000. If you actually have that much in your account, I will be happy to come and help you reduce it personally. Since Vivid has to pay Solaris for customer accounts, customer accounts that are inactive for too long will be terminated. [1]
For those who are unclear why a DE IBAN is sometimes advantageous: IBAN discrimination refers to the practice of some companies to only accept DE IBANs for their direct debits. Although this is not permitted, it doesn't help you when you're at the gym and the employee has to phone to see if a British IBAN is acceptable. This is what happened to me with the IBAN from Revolut. More on this at [2]
It should also be mentioned that some banks and the IBANs associated with them have the stigma of being used for fraud. This applies to both Solaris and N26. [3,4] This can have a detrimental effect if you want to make sales via ebay / ebay classifieds and cautious contemporaries are deterred.
𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐟𝐚
Since you cannot currently take out a loan with Vivid and the Visa card is only managed from the credit balance, the account is generally of no interest to Schufa and Vivid does not normally provide any information to Schufa. [5]
𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐧
Vivid only offers Visa debit cards. Personally, I don't find the purple metal card very pretty. But I almost never use it directly, instead I use it nested behind a Curve. Since it's a debit card, problems can occur with rental cars or hotel bookings. You can create a free virtual card with Prime. This remains in place even if you switch back to the standard plan. You also keep the metal card that you initially receive when you switch down. You can order personalized cards. Depending on the source, it seems that the metal card is no longer added to the account unconditionally at the beginning. You probably have to deposit €200. In my opinion, however, this is a low hurdle, as you could transfer the money away again as soon as you have the card. As already described, Vivid doesn't want customers who don't use the account. It should also be mentioned that Vivid does not print a card number on the card and does not show you the number in the account, but a virtual number that is linked to the card. Completely irrelevant for normal people. Nerds read the number with Cardpeek.
𝐏𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬𝐬
You can manage up to 15 bank accounts with Standard & Prime. These sub-accounts are called Pocket. Each account has its own IBAN. When creating the sub-accounts, you do not have to leave a time gap, the numbers are not assigned consecutively. Each of the IBANs can be debited. As far as I know, this feature is special because it is free of charge. N26 charges for the IBAN function for Spaces, as does C24. The curious thing here is that Vivid itself is likely to charge for the function. N26 and C24 are likely to charge virtually nothing for the function, as they themselves hold a banking license.
𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭
I haven't used the function myself yet, but it sounds very interesting. You can share a pocket with up to 5 other Vivid users. The users with whom the pocket is shared can use it as if it were their own. The account has an IBAN and can be linked to several cards for payment. In my opinion, this sounds practical for a shared account or a joint account in a relationship, with which everyone can run errands. [6]
𝐕𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐲
This function allows you to send money to someone for whom you only have a phone number but not the IBAN. You then send the person the link, they enter their IBAN and phone number and the money is paid out. You can also request payments the other way round. I haven't used this yet either. You can also just ask for the IBAN, I think.
𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐭 / 𝐊𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐨 / 𝐄𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞
You don't really trade the underlying here, just derivatives. CM-Equity AG is your counterparty and Vivid transmits your orders to CM-Equity AG. If the issuer goes belly up, your stuff is not in the special fund. In the event that liabilities cannot be serviced, you are entitled to compensation from the Compensation Scheme for Securities Trading Companies up to 90% or a maximum of €20,000, provided that BaFin determines the compensation case. I have no idea whether this applies to both precious metal fractions and fractional shares, as stated in the FAQ, or only to fractional shares. There is definitely no separate cover for coin fractions. I could at least only find the passage in the basic information sheet for the partial units. [7,8] My advice would be to simply go to TR or SC and gamble away your money with real shares.
Regarding the Invest without losing money campaign. Vivid currently offers the possibility to invest up to 100€ in certain stocks. If the security is held for 30 days, Vivid compensates for any loss. [9,10] So you can, for example, put €100 into Meta and Zuckerberg screws up again, then at least I get out with €100 in the end.
Addendum: Here is the summary of trying out Investpocket
https://app.getquin.com/activity/AtKmAXKWjz
𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤
The cashback system is constantly being revised and the partners rotate all the time, so I don't want to go into too much detail. The Superdeals are only available with Prime status. However, you automatically get Prime status as a new customer. You get the Insta-Cashback if you share a post via Facebook or Insta. At the moment, this doesn't really seem to be checked as it also works with disposable accounts. Previously, you could cancel the share process directly and it was activated. As I said, it is constantly being tweaked. The cashback rates vary. The highest I can remember was 50%. However, amounts are usually capped. Currently, for example, 15% at dm or 12% at Rewe up to a cashback amount of €10 each. There is also a general cap on the cashback per month. An upgrade for 9.9€ can sometimes make sense if there are very good cashback promotions, alternatively you can invite people to the app to get Prime again. In addition to the SuperDeals and the Insta Cashback, there is also cashback that is unconditional, here too there is an upper limit that you can collect. In addition, it has recently become possible to receive cashback on past purchases.
Everything you have collected ends up in a special area called Vivid Stock Rewards. Here your collected amounts are linked to stocks of your choice. This allows the amounts to grow even further. However, they can never fall below the initial amount. Withdrawals are possible at any time, with the one condition that you must withdraw everything from the Stock Rewards. Partial withdrawals are not possible.
𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐭
If there's one really negative point, it's probably this. I once had a problem with a failed direct debit, unfortunately I didn't find the support very helpful and they could do without the annoying bot. For me, that's one of the main reasons why I've only used Vivid as a second account so far.
𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐬
Unfortunately, Vivid is only available as an app so far. I have no information on when web access will be available. For me, this is one of the main disadvantages alongside the rather mediocre support.
The offers and promotions at Vivid change quite quickly, so if you want to get the most out of everything, you have to stay on the ball. If you just want a free account with a few nice features, this will hardly bother you after the initial setup.
It should also be mentioned that the app uses trackers from Google and Facebook. [11] However, this puts it in "good company", as unfortunately DKB, N26, C24, Revolut and many others also do this. Otherwise, I would at least advise you to revoke the permissions for the camera and co. after identification.
𝐔𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧
Who is it suitable for?
In my opinion, for almost everyone. The exception would probably be anyone who doesn't want to do banking via app or who generally rejects Videoident.
Which problem is solved?
Free account + debit card. Some functions that no one else offers me for free. Possibility of reimbursement of card transactions.
so you have to schedule your purchase?
You can, of course, make an extra purchase because of the cashback or bring it forward. I would rather see it as a bonus. If I order a Lieferando pizza and get 3% of the payment amount back, good, if not I still have to eat something. You can also get a small amount of cashback for past purchases.
And cash back only with vivid prime?
With Prime there is better cashback and the maximum amount that can be collected is higher. But you can also collect cashback with the Standard plan.
Are there any fees for the minimum investments?
There are only direct costs for metals and cryptos. Otherwise you pay via the spread.
𝐅𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐭
If DKB introduces account management fees or Vivid expands its offer even further, then I would move my main account to Vivid. In my opinion, Vivid is currently the most attractive account among the neo-banks and fintechs; nobody offers more for free. It is definitely advisable as a second account. If you can do without web access, there is hardly anything to be said against using it as a main account. In my opinion, €200 in cash is absolutely sufficient with the free status. If you really need more, you could use other providers such as Nuri on Solaris without incurring any costs. The constant campaigns and promos that Vivid offers are a nice opportunity to pick up a few euros here and there. I could write a lot more, but that's already enough.
Since as a pure account customer you take virtually no risk and have no costs, I don't see any downside here, apart from the minimal effort involved in opening an account.
[1] https://financefwd.com/de/vivid-n26-inaktive-kunden/
[6] https://press.vivid.money/tpost/kff8jih1i1-vivid-money-macht-mit-shared-pockets-das
[7] https://website-static.vivid.money/static/legal-docs/de-de/cm_key_information_metals_gold.pdf
[8] https://website-static.vivid.money/static/legal-docs/de-de/cm_key_information.pdf
[9] https://trading-static.prime.vividinvest.net/Conditions_invest_without_loss_de.pdf
[11] https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/de/reports/search/vivid.money/
