YAP — Carta prepagata (Nexi)
Nexi Payments S.p.A. · Visa
YAP is Nexi Payments' prepaid card-app aimed at young people (available from age 12): a virtual Visa card, contactless and mobile payments, with free P2P and partner cashback. It has no personal IBAN (you top it up, it does not receive credits like an account) and the maximum balance is 1,500 €. Mind the "free card" myth: Nexi's official fee sheet lists a 10 € issuance for the virtual version (subject to promotions) and 9.95 € for the plastic, while renewal is free (no periodic fee). Basic operations are cheap (0.90 € top-up, 1 € ATM in the euro area, 4 € outside the EU) but foreign-currency purchases carry a 2% markup. Issuer Nexi Payments S.p.A., an Italian e-money institution supervised by the Bank of Italy: as e-money there is no deposit guarantee (FITD), funds are safeguarded (segregated).
Data & conditions
| Network | Visa |
|---|---|
| Fund custody | Custodial (platform holds funds) |
| Issuance fee | €10 |
| Annual fee | Free |
| Free ATM limit | ATM withdrawal 1 € in the euro area; 4 € outside the EU |
| ATM withdrawal | Free |
| FX markup | 2% |
| Cashback | Not disclosed |
| Contactless | Yes |
| Virtual card | Yes |
| KYC | Full |
| Privacy | 2/10 |
| Supported countries | EEA · 1+ countries |
| Funding / solidity | Carta prepagata-app per giovani, emittente Nexi Payments S.p.A. (IMEL italiano) |
| Regulator | Banca d'Italia |
| Segment | B2C |
| Funding / solidity | Prepaid card-app for young people, issuer Nexi Payments S.p.A. (Italian EMI) |
| MiCA / License status | Albo IMEL art. 114-quater TUB n. 32875.7 (Nexi Payments S.p.A., vigilanza Banca d'Italia) E-money on an Italian EMI licence (Bank of Italy) |
Plans & pricing
Strengths
- Free renewal (no periodic fee) and low-cost basic operations
- Virtual Visa card activatable in minutes from the app, from age 12
- Free P2P and cashback at partner merchants, issuer Nexi (Italy's payments leader)
- No notable sovereignty advantage documented.
Weaknesses
- Not "free": 10 € virtual issuance (subject to promotions) and 9.95 € for the plastic
- No personal IBAN: it does not receive salary/transfers like an account
- 2% markup on foreign-currency purchases; balance capped at 1,500 €
- E-money: no deposit guarantee (safeguarding)
- Custodial: the platform holds your funds and can freeze or lose them.
- Full KYC required: verified identity, zero pseudonymity.
- Subject to regulation (E-money on an Italian EMI licence (Bank of Italy)): reporting to authorities and freezes on order.
- FATF-aligned jurisdiction: strong cooperation with authorities.
- Closed source: no way to verify what it does with wallet and data.
Verdict
Average score (3.0/C). YAP is an honest prepaid card-app for young people, with free renewal, cheap everyday use and a solid issuer (Nexi). What keeps it average is the paid issuance (10 € virtual / 9.95 € plastic, against the "free card" myth), the lack of an IBAN, the 1,500 € balance cap and the 2% markup on foreign-currency purchases. As e-money it carries no deposit guarantee (safeguarding).
E-money prepaid card on a supervised Italian EMI: custodial, full KYC (ID and tax code), every transaction tracked and the card suspendable or blockable by the issuer for AML or on court order. No anonymity, no permissionless use. On the sovereignty lens it is the opposite of a self-custody tool.
Promp's editorial rating based on real fees and net annual cost. Promp reviews third-party products independently.
"Sovereignty" rating: score computed on privacy/anonymity (30%), fund control (20%), censorship resistance (20%), trustless/auditability (20%) and costs (10%). Same data, different weights.
Reputation
What happened to people who used YAP — Carta prepagata (Nexi), and what users say. External signals: they do not feed the promp.it rating.
Incidents & regulatory actions
No known incidentSearch across public sources: no known hack, withdrawal freeze or regulatory action as of the verification date.
verified on
Public reviews
-
App Store ↗
4.8/5
63,140 reviews
Exact figure from Apple's public lookup API (Italian storefront) for the YAP app by Nexi Payments S.p.A.
-
Google Play ↗
4.4/5
33,894 reviews
Exact count read from the JSON-LD structured data on the Play listing (4.418 across 33,894 ratings); 15,438 of them include written reviews.
Weighted average across 2 public review platforms (97,034 reviews in total), weighted by volume. This is not our rating: it is those platforms’ average.
FAQ
Is the YAP card really free?
Renewal is free (no periodic fee), but Nexi's fee sheet lists a 10 € issuance for the virtual version (subject to ongoing promotions) and 9.95 € for the physical card. Everyday operations are cheap: 0.90 € top-up, 1 € ATM in the euro area.
Does YAP have an IBAN?
No. YAP is a prepaid card with no personal IBAN: you can top it up (from a card, P2P or a transfer to the technical account) but it does not receive salary or direct debits like a current account.
How much does it cost to pay in foreign currency with YAP?
Purchases in a currency other than the euro carry a 2% markup on the exchange rate. The card's maximum balance is 1,500 €.
Sources
- finanzadigitale.com Data verified on Jul 12, 2026
- nexi.it Data verified on Jul 12, 2026