A new FastPay, but worse.

Fastpay is a payment solution in Iraq that claims to be the quickest, most convenient, and safest mobile wallet for a cashless experience.

Iraqis have been using the system for some years now, and everyone has been “happy” with it until its most recent update on January 1st, 2022. The users were promised a new experience and look which outdid the previous. Unfortunately, though, that is not what they were given.

A notification was sent to everyone using the application at around 16:00. When tapping the notification, every user would log out of FastPay and was compelled to download the new update. Everyone was so excited about it until they realized, it would change everything.

We felt the first shock when you weren’t able to log in after many tries. I managed to log in after 6–8 login requests. I was then asked for a KYC verification. I had to enter my private personal details along with an ID picture to be verified in the app. You had to take a selfie and give the company your current GPS location. Every piece of information I entered was locked after I hit the “send” button.

Then, it hit us… this was going to be a bad experience.

The problems with the update

A famous saying goes “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Overnight changes are the worst user experience especially when there are a lot of changes.

Major UI update

Problem: The new update comes with a new user interface completely unseen by the users who have been working on the app for more than 5 years. A major UI update dissimilar to the previous interface is introduced and you would have to learn the whole application again to be able to use it.

Solution: When planning to update your application, you have to make little changes and divide them by consistent time intervals to give time to the user to learn about the changes.

Agent transfers are locked

Users cannot make transactions from agents that have been put on the work by the company in previous years. You would have to visit the company’s branches to get your money out of the wallet.

KYC isn’t reliable and requires time

Problem: As mentioned above, the KYC verification system is forced. This would not be a problem if it was a good system. However, you need to provide very personal information with no knowledge of where your data goes. You also need to wait a long time to be verified and use the app with all its features.

Solution: Implement an automatic OCR verification system that reads data from your ID with immediate verification much like FIB, an Iraqi Bank that was recently introduced.

Personal Information is not editable

Problem: Once you press that big pink “send” button, there is no going back. Your information is locked in the system and cannot be changed under any circumstances. Yes, I’m mad my selfie was taken in my bed but that’s not the point. You cannot edit the information you involuntarily entered and this is a really bad user experience.

Solution: Make sure users can make changes after you have verified their identity.

Data is not safe

Problem: Some examples of Fastpay’s volatile data management way have appeared recently. An example is even if you have done your ID verification before the update, you’d have to redo it. Another example is the fact that all transactions from before the update have been hard-deleted from the system and are no longer accessible. Nobody knows exactly what happened to them.

Solution: Data is really important, I wouldn’t trust a company with my financial data after they lose proof of what people have given me or what I have given the people. You have to keep the data consistent and accessible from point A to Z.

Account creation is suspended

As of January 5th, 2022. You cannot create a FastPay account right now. This gives way to the idea that the company may want to monetize account creation. Problems like these, give rise to missing many clients (users creating new accounts and using the system).

Bad user experience

Problem: Users are now really annoyed with the app. A reason is having to log in and enter their password each time they enter the app. This may be for security reasons, but there are better options than signing the user out as soon as they close the application.

Solution: Have options for security measures like these. You could ask the user if they want to be logged out or determine an amount of inactivity time for the application to sign them out automatically. Another solution would be bio-metric verification upon entering the application.

Conclusion

Never rush to surprise your users with huge changes. You could lose many users this way as many of them might hate learning. If you want to make changes, make sure to test every new feature and release it in parts.