Paying in style: #yoyonotyolo

You must have seen it around these days, the proliferation of pink flyers littering imperial’s walkways. Flyers that seem to have the word yolo written on them. However fear not my dear students, our university has not descended into a swag-palace. No these flyers actually say yoyo on them, and what they talk about is actually quite intriguing.

Its been actually quite hard to evade the information that has been bombarding imperial students concerning Yoyo. Emails from sabs, posters and/or flyers have been almost ever present since the launch. However for those of you who do not know what yoyo is here is a quick overview. It is a company funded by Imperial that is meant to counter the yearly calls for allowing payments with our college ID cards. Capitalising on the prevalence of smartphones and the rise of mobile payments, we now have an app for iOS and Android which allows you to pay at all taste imperial outlets (which excludes the union). You connect your bank account to the app, then load it up and are good to go. At the actual till all you do is pull out the app, let the cashiers scan the QR code that your phone shows you.

Now as a lazy imperial student (I know why I am one), you are probably wondering why should I go through the hassle of downloading an app (gasp, such an effort!) and linking my bank account to it? Well imagine this scenario: You have just gotten out of a horrible double lecture, haven’t eaten for an age and generally feel like you take a large bite out of anything that stumbles across your path. As you make your way to your food stop of choice you suddenly remember that, damn, you have no cash. Sighing, you make your way to the cash machine. As you arrive a look of horror spreads across your face as a line starting at the ATMs going all the back to south kensington station fills your view. You ain’t going to get your lunch easy. This is where Yoyo steps in. You can cut out the entire cueing by just topping up your account on your phone, entirely on the go. Furthermore the fact that you do not need to fumble for cash at the register means that once you have scanned your phone you are good to go. Imagine if everyone had this? It would make getting food so much more quick and efficient, and that’s what we imperial students like right? So essentially the reasons that you should go for Yoyo is because of the hassle yo safe if you are cashless and looking to get it at peak hours, as well as the speed you can check out without any change falling potentially falling to the floor.

On the other hand what are the cons of getting Yoyo? There are actually quite a few, related to security. Pretty much, if you lose your phone and you have no security measures they at leisure to spend as much as they want on your account. Furthermore if you are pretty open with your account details you should also be worried, as anyone can set up a Yoyo account with your details without any further verification. In my own experience of using the app, I have generally not encountered any problems. The quickness and ease of paying with my phone is something that I have thoroughly enjoyed. Furthermore if you are planning to use Yoyo, then start today! Today is the last day that when you top up you get a 10% bonus! My last piece of advice, even though this thing is pretty useful, carry some cash, because everyone knows: Cash is king