Is it safe?
You are giving money to someone else, through a card that travels by post. It is fair to wonder where that money is in the meantime. Below is exactly that.
Where your money sits along the way
Payments run through Online Payment Platform, a payment service provider licensed by the Dutch central bank (DNB). They also handle payments for Marktplaats and TicketSwap, among others.
Your bank
You pay the way you always do. The amount only leaves your account after your approval.
via
Third-party funds account
The amount is held on a separate account, supervised by the Dutch central bank.
managed by
The receiver
Redeems the card and receives the full amount on their own account.
Cheqi is not in this chain. The money never reaches our account and we cannot touch it. We only see that payment happened, so we know we may print and deliver the card.
Never collected? It comes back by itself
The amount stays locked until the receiver collects it. If that never happens, it automatically returns to you.
- Day 0You payThe amount goes straight to the third-party funds account and stays there.
- In transitThe card is deliveredThe receiver can collect the amount as soon as the card arrives.
- RemindersWe give you a nudgeIf the card stays unused, you hear from us well in time - up to three times.
- After 60 daysAutomatically backNot collected? The full amount returns to your account.
Like a universal gift card, but fair
You can think of Cheqi as a universal digital gift card: the receiver gets the amount on their own bank account and decides what happens with it. With one big difference in the fine print.
A regular gift card
- Only spendable at one store or chain.
- The credit expires after the expiry date.
- Never redeemed? The money is gone: it stays with the issuer.
A Cheqi
- The full amount on their own account, spendable anywhere.
- No credit that quietly expires.
- Not collected? After 60 days everything returns to the giver by itself.
Expiring is not a thing here. The amount sits on the third-party funds account until it is collected or returned to the giver. It is yours, never ours.
Finding the card is not enough
Only the right person can redeem it
The sender provides the receiver’s phone number. At redemption we send an SMS code to that number. Whoever finds the card but does not have that phone gets nowhere.
The bank account is verified once
The first time someone redeems a Cheqi, they confirm their bank account with a one-cent payment through iDEAL | Wero. Not the most fun extra step, but it is the only way to be certain the money lands on the right account. The check runs at Online Payment Platform, and the next time it is not needed.
We ask no more than necessary
Enough to make the card, deliver it and pay out the amount. Nothing more. The receiver’s phone number is used only for the SMS check: once the Cheqi is collected we no longer keep it, and if a card is never collected we erase it automatically shortly after the refund. What we keep and for how long is in the privacy statement.
Still unclear on something?
Check the frequently asked questions or see how it works. You can also simply ask us.