We have crossed the threshold of interoperability as per the directive that made ZimSwitch the national switch. This means that we can all send money from EcoCash to other mobile money wallets as well as bank accounts. There has been a lot of chatter about the charges that are associated with transferring money from EcoCash to other mobile money wallets and the charges are well, eye-watering from what we have been seeing on social media. In light of this, we decided to compare how much it costs to send money from EcoCash to OneMoney and vice versa.
EcoCash to OneMoney
Since we don’t yet know EcoCash’s charges for transactions we decided to give it a try and find out. The starting balance in the EcoCash wallet was 219.93:
Steps to send money from EcoCash to OneMoney:
- Dial *151#
- Enter Pin
- Select Option 1 “Send Money”
- Select Option 5 “Send to Account”
- Type “n” for more options till you see OneMoney which is Option 25
- Enter the account number
- Enter the amount
- The reference for the transfer
- Confirm transaction
We then sent ZWL$50.00 from EcoCash to a OneMoney wallet and the remaining balance was 121.55:
So simple maths shows us that the fee for sending ZWL$50.00 from EcoCash to OneMoney is ZWL$48.38. That’s the final balance of ZWL$121.55 subtracted from the initial balance of ZWL$219.93. That gives a figure of ZWL$98.38, to get the charge we remove the amount that was transferred which is ZWL$50.00 from ZWL$98.38 and we get ZWL$48.38.
What will the charge be when the transfer goes the other way
The balance in the OneMoney Wallet was 96.01:
OneMoney to EcoCash steps:
- Dial *111#
- Select option 5 “Banking Services”
- Select option 5 “ZIPIT”
- Press # for more option until you get to the last page. Ecocash is option 24
- Enter phone number under account number
- Enter amount
- Type in pin to confirm the transaction
We sent the same ZWL$50.00 back to the EcoCash wallet and the remaining balance in the OneMoney Wallet was ZWL$41.01
As per the previous example, we will subtract the final balance from the initial balance and then subtract the sent amount from that result to get the transfer fee. Therefore a OneMoney to EcoCash transaction of ZWL$50.00 carries a charge of ZWL$5.00.
The difference is indeed eye-watering
Going by the ZWL$50.00 we sent back and forth, OneMoney is charging exactly 10%. EcoCash on the other hand is charging well over 90% for the same amount.
That, in my opinion, doesn’t really give anyone any incentive to make that kind of transaction. The transfer fee is almost the same as the amount sent. As it stands it seems better just to transact from an EcoCash wallet and not move the money about because the transfer fees don’t really make it worth the trouble.
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What’s your take?