Adopting digital payments may improve your personal finances

Moneycontrol BureauIf 2016 would have made one big change in money management habits then it would be to push even the most tech-averse towards digital payments. Demonetisation, and the resultant cash crunch, has helped spread the digital payments net over a wide area and is likely to become the most favoured way of conducting financial transactions.Be it mobile wallets, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), debit cards, credit cards or prepaid cards, you are most likely to learn how to transact digitally.“Adopting digital payments can bring in a great deal of independence and help people get free of conventional, unrewarding practices in personal finance,” Bhavin Turakhia, CEO and Co-Founder, Zeta a fintech start-up offering digitised employee benefits, told Moneycontrol.He says people would be able to pay rent, shop bills, and even make smaller transactions through apps - where there would have normally been cash exchanged. Establishments that usually dealt only in cash will transition to accepting digital payments as well. Mobile wallets and digital wallets from banks, retailer closed-loop solutions, and mobile money will become common in a relatively short timeTurakhia feels that fallout of the widening of the digital payments landscape would reduce costs for consumers. “The common man is the ultimate winner. There are many operators competing for the same consumer. The consumer will be spoilt for choice. Operators can leverage data and insights they gather to create value-added services to consumers, most of which may not cost the consumer anything. On a more elementary level, people will be able to make payments and receive money on the go. No more queues, no more waiting. More time at hand,” Turakhia said.However, even as you go digital, you need to adopt a lot of caution to kee your transactions safe. “Like with cash, which can be lost, in the digital world user credentials could be compromised. It is extremely important for users to ensure safety of transaction,” says Anish Williams, Co-founder and CEO, Udio, which offers mobile wallet.Williams says while transacting digitally you should adopt the following precautions:- Do not share login details/OTPs with any third party person- Banks/digital payment companies do not ask for PIN or any other confidential data- Users should maintain a strong password- Change your password periodically.- Use pre-paid cards if you do not want to expose your primary bank account to third party merchants.