Cultivating a strong savings culture and exploring investment opportunities are increasingly becoming accessible through user-friendly fintech platforms. Among the popular platform choices are Accrue and Piggyvest, both designed to help you manage your money effectively and grow your wealth. While they share the common goal of financial empowerment, they approach it with distinct features and target slightly different needs.
Piggyvest: Building a Foundation of Disciplined Savings
Piggyvest has become a household name in Nigeria since its launch in 2016, and is renowned for its user-friendly interface and emphasis on automated savings. It has successfully cultivated a habit of saving among a large user base (over 5 million customers) by offering various structured savings options.
Key Strengths of Piggyvest
- Versatile Savings Options: Piggyvest offers a range of savings options. These include “Piggybank” for flexible automated savings, “SafeLock” for fixed savings with higher interest rates, “Target Savings” for achieving specific financial goals, “Flex Naira” for more accessible savings with withdrawal flexibility, “Flex Dollar” to save and grow money in foreign currencies and “HouseMoney” to plan towards rent and household expenses.
- Automated Savings: A core strength lies in its seamless automation capabilities. Users can set up recurring savings deposits daily, weekly, or monthly, making saving a consistent and effortless habit.
- Investment Opportunities: Piggyvest also provides access to curated investment opportunities through its “Investify” feature. These typically include fixed income investments, agriculture, and real estate, offering users a starting point to grow their savings beyond traditional interest rates.
- Educational Resources: Piggyvest actively provides financial literacy content through its blog and other channels, empowering users with knowledge to make informed financial decisions.
- User-Friendly Interface: The app boasts an intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface, making it accessible to users of all tech-savviness levels.
- Strong Community: Piggyvest has built a strong online community, providing users with support and encouragement on their savings journeys.
Accrue: Expanding Horizons with Cross-Border Functionality and Dollar Savings
Accrue, while a more recent entrant in the Nigerian fintech space, has quickly gained traction by focusing on solving specific financial challenges, particularly in the realm of cross-border transactions and safeguarding wealth against local currency fluctuations.
Key Strengths of Accrue
- Seamless Cross-Border Payments: Accrue’s standout feature is its focus on facilitating fast and affordable money transfers across African countries and to the US. This is particularly valuable for individuals with family, business partners, or other financial obligations beyond Nigeria’s borders.
- Dollar Savings with Daily Interest: Recognizing the impact of Naira devaluation, Accrue offers users the ability to save in US dollars and earn daily interest. Users earn 7% interest per annum, paid daily.
- Virtual USD Cards: Accrue provides virtual dollar cards that users can fund to make international online purchases and payments with ease, a convenient feature for accessing global e-commerce.
- Flexible Funding and Withdrawal Options: Accrue supports various methods for funding your wallet, including local bank transfers and mobile money. Withdrawals to local bank accounts are also straightforward.
- “Crewtag” and “Deposit Link”: Features like “@crewtag” enable instant, free transfers between Accrue users, while “Deposit Link” simplifies receiving payments from anyone, even those not on the platform.
- Focus on Financial Inclusion Across Africa: Accrue’s broader vision encompasses connecting individuals financially across the continent, which can be beneficial for those with regional connections.
Choosing the Right Companion for Your Financial Journey
- If your priority is building a consistent savings habit through structured plans and exploring basic investment opportunities within Nigeria: Piggyvest’s diverse features provide a strong foundation for cultivating financial discipline and growth within the local market. Its strong community and educational resources are also valuable assets.
- If your needs extend to seamless cross-border transactions and a robust way to save and spend in US dollars to mitigate local currency risks: Accrue’s focus on international payments and dollar-denominated savings offers a compelling solution.
Summarizing the key differences
| Feature | Piggyvest | Accrue |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Focus | Automated Savings, Dollar savings, Local Investments | Cross-Border Payments, Dollar Savings, International Spending |
| Core Savings Products | Piggybank, SafeLock, Target Savings, Flex Naira, Flex Dollar, HouseMoney | Dollar Savings (with daily interest) |
| Investment Options | Curated investments in fixed income, agriculture, real estate (within Nigeria) | Primarily focused on dollar preservation; no direct investment products currently |
| Cross-Border Payments | Limited or no direct focus on cross-border transfers | Strong focus on fast and affordable transfers across Africa and to the US |
| Foreign Currency Savings | Indirectly through some investment options (USD mutual funds, if available) | Direct savings in USD with daily interest |
| Virtual Cards | No | Yes, Virtual USD Cards |
| Unique Features | Various different saving styles, strong community | Crewtag, Deposit Link for easy transfers |
| Ideal for | Building savings habits, exploring local investments | Cross-border transactions, hedging against Naira devaluation, international online spending |
Conclusion
Both Accrue and PiggyVest offer valuable tools for managing your finances. Piggyvest excels in building a savings culture and providing accessible local investment avenues. Accrue distinguishes itself with its strong focus on international financial needs, particularly cross-border payments and dollar-based savings.
Depending on your individual circumstances and financial goals, and your broader financial interactions, you may find one platform more suited to your needs than the other, or even consider leveraging the strengths of both for a comprehensive financial strategy!
MORE FROM ACCRUE
10 Best Fintech Apps in Africa
How Ayo Built a 30,000$ Food Business as an Undergraduate
5 Ladies Told us The Financial Status of The Guys They’d Like to Marry