Ecobank VISA prepaid has no charges for first US$500 in transactions till 31/01/2021

A couple of weeks ago we compared the charges of some of the Prepaid US$ VISA/MasterCards in Zimbabwe. On that list, there were a few Prepaid US$ services that were missing. The most notable and highly requested one was EcoBank’s VISA card. Well, that service has caught out attention because back in December EcoBank announced that there were going to be no charges for the first US$500.00 online and POS transactions over the festive season till the 31st of January 2021.

This definitely puts EcoBank as one of the front runners when we compare all prepaid US$ cards but how does it compare in other categories? (aside from this promotion)

EcoBank VISA vs the rest

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$5.00 (minimum initial deposit of US$50.00)	US$5.00 (total card application fee is US$20 the rest goes into the account)	US$ 10.00	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Fee	US$2.50	US$2.5 plus 1.5% of withdrawn amount (plus 5c stamp duty)	3% minimum US$3.50	3% minimum $3.50	3% of amount being withdrawn	2% of amount being withdrawn min US$2.00	US$5.00 flat fee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.