CABS Introduces New Terms And Conditions For Its Textacash

CABS has changed various terms and conditions for its low-cost mobile money product Textacash. No need to panic, it still doesn’t charge monthly service charges.

Textacash was introduced in 2011 to increase CABS’s customer base with customers who were previously unbanked. The move was part and parcel of CABS’s drive to be the leader in driving financial inclusion to a majority of Zimbabweans.

Textacash is linked to a ‘Lite’ bank account, which customers can get much quicker and easier (than the traditional bank account) from the bank’s branches.  Textacash is characterized by very low requirements to open the account. Hence it is attractive to the unbanked population. The requirements include presenting a National Identification Card and filling out a simple form and the account is opened while the customers waits. 

One of the major selling points of Textacash account is the fact that it has no monthly service charges and customers are not required to have minimum balances.

Here is a list of the changes that will take effect from 1 July 2018;

• The introduction of $2 minimum deposit

• A card replacement fee of $2 for all lost and stolen card,

• Textacash accounts restricted to one account per customer,

• Mandatory linking of Textacash accounts to mobile numbers at account opening, and

• Maximum account balance of $1,500

I don’t think the new $2 minimum deposit will cause any backlash because people rarely deposit amounts below a dollar. In fact, I don’t think all the new terms and conditions will really hit hard on Textcash’s customers to a point where they would want to leave Textacash for another low-cost account from other banks.