A Surprisingly Great Experience with Dom.Rf Card and Savings Account

Hey there!

I've been reading through reviews of the Dom.PF bank, and it's clear that most of them are short and mostly negative. I'm not here to rant, though. I want to share my honest experience with using their debit card since 2019 and their savings account since 2022.

Getting to know the bank

I didn't exactly choose Dom.PF bank myself – it was sort of forced upon me as part of my job's payroll project. I agreed to get my salary paid onto a card as a token of loyalty to my company. Even in Moscow, there aren't that many Dom.PF bank branches, and in our city, we only have one with a single ATM! Can you imagine my shock, and that of my colleagues who were used to getting their salaries paid onto cards from banks with branches and ATMs on every corner? Nowadays, we're all about withdrawing cash from partner banks' ATMs, but back then, it was quite a hassle. I guess you just have to get used to it.

The downsides

The biggest minus for me, from the first day I started using the card until I finally ditched it in the summer of 2023, was the commission for topping up the card. Want to put some cash onto your card? You'll need to go to an ATM or visit the bank branch. Or just pay the commission. It's not exactly the most convenient thing.

The second minus is a bit less significant. Until March 2022, some banks – like Tinkoff – allowed you to withdraw cash in foreign currencies from their ATMs. Unfortunately, Dom.PF bank didn't offer this service, which left us in a pretty tricky situation when we needed to exchange some cash before a trip abroad. We'd bought the dollars at a decent rate using an app, but we couldn't withdraw the cash from the Dom.PF ATM.

That's about it for the downsides, though.

The perks of a premium card

Things started looking up when my card level was upgraded, and I got a new Premium Visa card. The old card was basically useless after that. The bank manager came to our office and handed me the new card in person. As long as I met the conditions – regular transactions and being part of the payroll project – I got to enjoy some nice perks, including:

I've had the pleasure of using a multicurrency card that lets me buy currency with a +5 cop. markup on the exchange rate.The constant cashback of 5% on decent categories – restaurants and fast food, entertainment, home repair, and interior design. To put it simply, if I'd gone to IKEA and Leroy Merlin (which fell under the repair category) and spent 30,000₽, I'd get back 1,500₽ in rubles on the 10th of every month.Initially, there were no limits on cashback. But that was then. Now, the limit is 10,000₽ per month.I also got free passes to Lounge Key lounges with the option to bring two guests along. The number of passes varied depending on my card turnover, but two basic passes were always available to Premium card holders.I even had a dedicated phone line and a personal manager I could chat with via WhatsApp and ask any questions. I'm putting this perk at the bottom because it's the least significant one.I have to admit, though, that since March 2022, card holders have lost some of their perks, like access to business lounges partnering with Lounge Key. But I still haven't stopped using my card.

What caught my attention, though, was another product from the bank – a savings account. When the Central Bank raised the interest rate to 20%, the bank responded with an even more attractive offer – savings accounts with a 22% annual interest rate. For every 1,000₽ on the account, I'd get 18.3₽ at the end of the month. And since this is a standard account, not a deposit, my money wasn't locked in, and I could top up or withdraw funds as I pleased. I could even transfer money from the savings account to my card and use it to pay for things right away. The bank would then calculate interest on the remaining balance at the end of the day – so if I had 1 million₽ on the account for 10 days and then just 1₽ for the rest of the month, I'd still get 4,444₽ in interest at the end of the month. I could transfer my entire salary and withdraw it as needed.

Closing my account

After I got laid off, I took my time closing my account. As long as I had over 500,000₽ on the savings account, account maintenance was free. Otherwise, it would start costing me.

I have to say, I was really glad I could close my bank card from home instead of having to visit a branch - I didn't want to make a special trip just to shut down my account, and thankfully I didn't have to. First, I needed to update my passport details (my card was in a different name), then I had to notify the bank that I wanted to close my card. The bank's support team was super helpful - I filled out some of the forms online, printed out others, filled them in, and uploaded the photos. No need for me to visit the branch at all!Using a savings account

The bank doesn't restrict you from continuing to use your savings account or accounts even if you don't have a card. If someone accidentally transfers money to my Sberbank mobile account by mistake, the money will end up on any of my active savings accounts. And why is that?

I've found that the high interest rate on this savings account is a major perk. It stays in effect for the month the account is opened and applies to the next two months as well. That's why I end up opening a new account every three months and transferring all my money to it. When I read people complaining that this is too much hassle, I can only imagine how tedious it would be to physically go to a branch, collect a bag of cash, and then deposit it in another window. In reality, opening a new account and transferring funds takes less than a minute in the app, and the bank hasn't given me any issues with my strategy over the past two years. The key thing to note is that the savings account doesn't need to be closed before the interest is paid out. If I've withdrawn the money from the account before the end of the month, it still needs to remain open – even if it's empty – or I won't earn any interest.I'm happy to recommend this bank because it's never given me any problems, always been quick to respond, saved me time and money, and even helped me get some of my money back without needing to visit a branch in the past five years. I've only shared my own experience, which is substantial given the time frame.