CAIRO — The e-Dirham has been around for 15 years now but the second generation (G2) e-Dirham really ramps up the game.
The e-Dirham system was initially rolled out by the UAE Ministry of Finance in 2001 with the aim of facilitating the payment of governmental and non-governmental service payments in a secure and timely fashion.
The system has been constantly evolving ever since and the launch of the second generation (G2) e-Dirham in 2011, heralded a new era for the system with the introduction of a wider range of more user-friendly Al Haslah e-Dirham pre-paid cards, as well as a comprehensive range of electronic, smart payment services.
Through a downloadable mobile app, the e-Dirham cardholder can now set up an e-wallet, in which money can be stored for future payments.
The system is both efficient and convenient. It eliminates the need to carry around large sums of cash as well as the risk going into debt, as can occur with traditional credit cards.
The 10.7 percent rise in the number of service transactions made through e-Dirham during the first quarter of 2016 in comparison to the same period the previous year bears witness to the system’s growing popularity in a society that has traditionally favored cash transactions.
Convenience
Just like a credit card, the Al Haslah card used by the e-Dirham system is convenient to use and offers you a myriad of ways to make speedy payments from wherever you may be in the world. You can choose the card that best suits your requirements, as cards have varying limits.
E-dirhams are widely available from 10 banks and their 115 branches nationwide like National bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and unlike a credit card you don’t even need to have a bank account to own one! They are more straightforward to obtain than credit cards, too.
In the UAE banks protect themselves against the money lent on credit cards by demanding a security check that can be cashed in the case of defaulting on payments. Since pre-paid cards are loaded in advance there is no need for this.
Managing your Money and Avoiding the Debt Trap
The UAE offers unparalleled shopping opportunities with temptations to spend on every corner. Using a traditional credit card allows you to forget your financial limitations and makes it easy for you to splurge on frivolous, luxury purchases, which may in reality be beyond your financial limits.
In such an environment it is easy to lose financial discipline, so what could be better than the pre-loaded e-Dirham card, which reminds you to toe the spending line. Reloading your Al Haslah card with the amount you want to spend encourages you to consider your purchases before making them and to give priority to what you need, rather than simply want, ensuring you do not spend beyond your means.
Although you can really make pre-paid cards work to your advantage, depending on your choice of card, they can tie a lot of money up unnecessarily, when it could be making interest for you. The solution is to keep a minimum balance on your prepaid card, which can always be topped-up as and when necessary.
