How do Zimbabwe’s prepaid US$ card fees stack up against one another?
Valentine Muhamba
Zimbabwe has a number of prepaid card (VISA or MasterCard) options for those who want to buy things online, pay for services like DStv or are frequent travellers. Here’s a comparison of some of the prepaid options available and what they will cost over a number of categories.
The list of fees won’t directly compare because some of the categories may not be listed by the respective bank. We will be looking at BancABC’s prepaid VISA, FBC’s MasterCard, CABS’ prepaid MasterCard, and Steward prepaid Globetrotter VISA.
Prepaid card requirements
CABS, Steward and FBC have on thing in common and that is they have more extensive KYC requirements. You’ll have to provide a copy of your identification document, a proof of residence, fill in an application form and a couple of photos.
BancABC, on the other hand, you can do it from home through the bank’s Dial-A-Visa program. All you need to is call Branch X and request a VISA card and they will deliver it to you. You’ll need to give the messenger a copy of your ID and fill in a form when they arrive.
We are under the assumption that transactions include the 2% IMMT
Card Issuing fees
Bank
BancABC
CABS MasterCard
FBC MasterCard
Steward VISA
EcoBank VISA
Stanbic VISA
ZB VISA
Fee
US$5.00 (US$5 for the card and the other as a deposit)
US$25.00 (US$5 for the card & application and US$20 deposit)
US$5.00 (Only Issued to Stanbic Bank account holders)
Minimum deposit of US$20 (card issuing fee not specified)
Prepaid card service fee
Bank
BancABC
CABS MasterCard
FBC MasterCard
Steward VISA
EcoBank VISA
Stanbic VISA
ZB VISA
Fee
US$0.50 per month
not specified
none
not specified
none
not specified
not specified
Prepaid card deposit fee
Bank
BancABC
CABS MasterCard
FBC MasterCard
Steward VISA
EcoBank VISA
Stanbic VISA
ZB VISA
Fee
none
not specified
2.5% of amount deposited
US$1.00
5% Bank Charge
not specified
no charge
Insufficient funds fee
Bank
BancABC
CABS MasterCard
FBC MasterCard
Steward VISA
EcoBank VISA
Stanbic VISA
ZB VISA
Fee
US$0.30
not specified
none
US$0.50
none
not specified
none
POS/Swipe online transaction charge
Bank
BancABC
CABS MasterCard
FBC MasterCard
Steward VISA
EcoBank VISA
Stanbic VISA
ZB VISA
Fee
1% Min US$1
1% of purchase amount (plus 5c stamp duty)
1.88% of amount
1.75% of transaction value with minimum $2 and a maximum of $100
2.5% minimum US$10
3 % of the purchase amount
US$1.75 for transactions up to US$175.00
And over US$175.00 it’s 1% of the amount
(so basically 1% of amount transacted)
Cash withdrawal same bank ATM
Bank
BancABC
CABS MasterCard
FBC MasterCard
Steward VISA
EcoBank VISA
Stanbic VISA
ZB VISA
Fee
US$2.50
US$2.5 plus 1.5% of withdrawn amount (plus 5c stamp duty)
3% minimum US$3.50
3% minimum $3.50
3% of amount being withdrawn
2% of amount being withdrawn min US$2.00
US$5.00 flat fee
Cash withdrawal other banks (local) ATM fee
Bank
BancABC
CABS MasterCard
FBC MasterCard
Steward VISA
EcoBank VISA
Stanbic VISA
ZB VISA
Fee
US$2.50
US$2.5 plus 1.5% of withdrawn amount (plus 5c stamp duty)
3% minimum US$3.50
3% minimum US$3.50
3% of amount being withdrawn
2% of amount being withdrawn min US$2.00
US$5.00 flat fee
Cash withdrawal other banks (international) ATM fee
Bank
BancABC
CABS MasterCard
FBC MasterCard
Steward VISA
EcoBank VISA
Stanbic VISA
ZB VISA
Fee
1.5% min US$2.50
US$2.5 plus 1.5% of withdrawn amount (plus 5c stamp duty)
3% minimum US$3.50 (there is a 3% conversion fee if withdrawing in a currency that is not US$)
3% minimum $3.50
3% of amount being withdrawn
2% of amount being withdrawn min US$2.00
US$5.00 flat fee
Prepaid card to card transfer fee
Bank
BancABC
CABS MasterCard
FBC MasterCard
Steward VISA
EcoBank VISA
Stanbic VISA
ZB VISA
Fee
US$1.00
not specified
US$5.00
2% min US$2.00
not specified
US$2.00
0.5% of the value min US$40 max US$150
Prepaid card to account transfer fee
Bank
BancABC
CABS MasterCard
FBC MasterCard
Steward VISA
EcoBank VISA
Stanbic VISA
ZB VISA
Fee
US$1.00
not specified
n/a
n/a
not specified
not specified
not specified
The one notable omission from this list is EcoCash’s virtual MasterCard. We were told by EcoCash customer services that they are no longer issuing new virtual cards.
You should also check out the episode of Technikari where went back and forth about which card between FBC and BancABC’s prepaid card is the better one:
In one of your Technikari podcast, you were so biased on FBC Prepaid Mastercard. BancABC is way better than all the other cards you are comparing it to based on transaction costs, i have used the others and i must say BancABC will save u money but the downside is branch network which is limited compared to CABS and FBC. Even if BancABC charges you 50c as monthly service fee, it will be absorbed by the savings you accrue on less transaction charges acrosa board.
Doesn’t fbc charge USD3 for every online payment transaction? When i signed up for AWS and amazon did the USD1 transactions to verify my account I noticed i lost USD3 at the same time. I think its mentioned somewhere on their site that they charge min $3 per transaction if I’m not mistaken which is why I didn’t call their customer services. I stand to be corrected.
Its true they actually do that, they charge $3 to 4USD for every transaction they are quite expensive FBC mastercard if you ask me. What it was initially is not what it used to be. Even the 2.5% charge for depositing why are they charhing us for putting money into an account, doesn’t make sense to me.
Initially there was never a charge, also yhey told me they dont charge anything when switching money to another card when it expires. My card expired and I was charged 5$ for getting another card. The fact that i wanted to withdraw my money, when it expired they tried to stop me. I then got the new card just in case but in terms of using it, rarely do i put money in there anymore.
The ecocash Mastercard 💳 remains the cheapest. No need for a physical card. You can create a virtual card and make payments online in all ways.
No minimum deposit. Go to any Econet shop or cabin booth and deposit your forex and it’s done. Have been using it to pay on Alibaba, Playstore, Linking to PayPal, Western Union etc
From the comments writer. It seems you are going to need to edit thisbarticle and include. EcoBank, Stanbic Bank, Nedbank, And Ecocash Virtual Card, versus Ecocash Mastercard also. Extra info is needed.
i used steward bank for 2 years until i changing to banc abc,my take based on my experiance is sterward bank is a ripoff and i lost so much money over time because they charge more than they say,but with bancabc it was a small problem of getting the card to work but my patience has payed i only get charged a buck for my transaction which is way unbeleivable
Steward bank is the best for me so far comparing in to the ZB visa debit card. Steward bank visa prepaid consists of 3d secure otp when paying online where as the ZB card does not have any security. I actually swiped for goods at ok msrt without entering any pin. Terrible. I’m yet to try the cabs MasterCard, FBC, bank abv, nmb, Nedbank and stanbic debit
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