Summary: PayDo is a relatively new financial services platform that facilitates international financial transactions for businesses, private entrepreneurs, and merchants. In this brief guide, we’ll review the platform’s safety features and assess its regulatory compliance to give you a solid overview of its legitimacy and fund safeguarding practices.
What is PayDo?
PayDo is a financial services provider specializing in international online transactions. It serves a wide range of clients, including businesses, private entrepreneurs, merchants, freelancers, and other kinds of professionals seeking a simple and convenient way to send and receive payments.
PayDo’s primary aim is to make the process easier by reducing bureaucracy and necessary documentation for transactions. In the future, users will also be able to apply for digital cards.
Is PayDo safe?
In short — yes, PayDo is a legit payment service. As a regulated Electronic Money Institution (EMI), it operates under the oversight of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), ensuring that your money is managed with care and accountability.
PayDo also implements mandatory user verification to meet the rigorous Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Level 1 compliance standards for merchant services.
To safeguard users’ funds, PayDo keeps their funds separate from their own accounts and securely held in banks. Furthermore, the platform integrates real-time fraud detection, and 3D-Secure (3DS) for card payments, ensuring the security of your money.
Let’s explore PCI DSS and 3D-Secure, the most important security features, a bit further.
PCI DSS
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements developed by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), which includes major international payment systems like Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. These requirements are set to ensure the secure processing, transferring, and storing of payment data of bank cardholders. PCI DSS applies to various entities, including merchants, banks, service providers, retail stores, call centers, and payment gateways.
PCI compliance is essential for businesses, as it builds trust with customers and protects sensitive data from breaches. Compliance involves implementing strong security measures such as firewalls, encryption, and data storage restrictions. By meeting PCI DSS standards, PayDo demonstrates its commitment to safeguarding customer information, improving its reputation, and reducing the likelihood of a hacking attack.
Compliance is mandatory for all companies handling customer data or processing credit card transactions, regardless of their size or transaction frequency. Failure to comply can lead to severe financial losses, fines, and even bans on processing credit card data, along with potential legal repercussions.
3D-Secure
3D-Secure, developed by Visa and MasterCard, is an additional security layer designed to reduce fraud risk in online payments.
When a cardholder makes an online payment, they receive a unique one-time password via SMS to confirm the transaction. This involves three domains: the acquirer (the bank serving the online store), the issuer (the entity that issued the card), and the compatibility domain (related to the payment system). PayDo, for example, works with global security protocols and follows international payment protection standards, ensuring each transaction is safeguarded by 3D-secure technology.
While 3D-Secure is typically activated for all issued cards, it’s recommended to ensure activation if not already in place. This authentication method offers several benefits, including reduced disputed transactions, increased security, and improved customer trust in online transactions. However, some customers find the process cumbersome, and not all merchants or banks employ this system, potentially leaving some transactions vulnerable to fraud.
How does PayDo safeguard data?
As an EMI, PayDo manages electronic money, digital currencies, and e-wallets. Unlike banks, however, EMIs do not use customer funds for investments or lending.
Instead, they keep customer funds separate from their operational funds to ensure they are available for withdrawal whenever necessary, as mandated by The Electronic Money Regulations 2011 (EMR 2011) and The Payment Services Regulations 2017 (PSR 2017). Compliance with these regulations ensures your money is always safe and secure, both with personal and business accounts.
Unlike traditional financial safeguards relying on schemes like The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), PayDo employs specialized safeguarding techniques, such as:
- Keeping all necessary funds safe in accounts at UK, EEA, and Swiss credit institutions;
- Ensuring your funds are protected in real-time;
- Monitoring the movement of your funds throughout the day.
All financial matters are taken care of in-house, with a periodic review of the chosen authorized credit institution conducted at least once a year, with additional reviews if necessary changes occur, ensuring funds are managed meticulously.
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) insures bank deposits in the UK. However, FSCS protection does not apply to funds held by EMIs.
Banks can invest or lend the funds deposited by their clients. In the event of bank failure, there may not be enough money to repay clients, which is where FSCS steps in, compensating up to £85,000 per individual. Unlike banks, EMIs cannot lend client funds, so PayDo is not required to participate in the FSCS. Instead, it follows stringent safeguarding requirements laid down by regulatory authorities.
If PayDo faces insolvency, your funds will still remain unaffected. Following The Payment and Electronic Money Institution Insolvency Regulations 2021 and The Financial Markets and Insolvency (Settlement Finality) Regulations 1999, PayDo will:
- Activate a communication strategy to ensure clear and transparent communication with the clients;
- Hold its correspondent credit institution responsible for promptly returning your funds.
Conclusion
PayDo is a legit and safe financial services platform offering convenient solutions for international transactions. As a regulated Electronic Money Institution under the supervision of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), PayDo ensures that your money is handled with accountability and care.
Although PayDo accounts are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) like traditional banks, the platform guarantees 100% fund recovery through mandatory safeguarding measures in the event of insolvency. As such, PayDo maintains the safety and security of customer assets.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
FAQs about PayDo
Is PayDo legit?
Yes, PayDo is considered a legit platform. It operates as a regulated Electronic Money Institution under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and adheres to strict PCI DSS Level 1 compliance standards for merchant services, requiring mandatory user verification. Further, customer funds are held separately from the company’s accounts in secure banks, providing an additional layer of security.
Note also that, while PayDo accounts are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) like traditional banks, mandatory safeguarding measures ensure that if the platform ceases operations, users will still receive 100% of their funds back.
Is PayDo covered by FSCS?
PayDo accounts are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). However, in accordance with UK regulations, PayDo implements mandatory safeguarding measures to ensure the protection of customer funds. Therefore, even if PayDo goes out of business, you will receive 100% of your money back.
What do clients say about PayDo?
Overall, the product has received positive reviews. While there is still room for improvement, most of the PayDo reviews have been favorable.
