Last week, Barter by Flutterwave and a host of other fintech companies (such as Eversend, Payday, GetEquity, Busha, Vesti, etc) announced that they were suspending their virtual dollar card service.
These companies attributed the suspension to instructions from their card partner—Union54. On Monday (July 18, 2022), Union54’s CEO Perseus Mlambo tweeted a screenshot of an internal Slack message, stating that “the pause on service is part of a necessary compliance audit” which will take place within two weeks.
Several Nigerian users who depend on these platforms to pay for services on global sites like Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, and Facebook, are facing a challenging time. Especially with the $20 daily limit on international transactions by Nigerian banks.
Here are seven alternative fintech companies that are still issuing virtual cards and are currently functional. They are Cardtonic, Changera, Sudo.Africa, Chipper Cash, Geegpay, and Fundall.
Cardtonic
Cardtonic provides a virtual dollar card designed for Nigerians looking to make seamless international payments. Whether you’re paying for Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, or other online services, the Cardtonic Virtual Dollar Card allows you to transact globally without the usual restrictions from Nigerian banks.
To sign up on Cardtonic, you need the following:
- Biodata.
- Bank Verification Number (BVN).
Changera
Changera is owned by Bitmama, a highly-secured and fast-growing crypto platform. With Changera you can send and receive money internationally, buy airtime or data for family and friends, and pay utility bills for your loved ones from anywhere in the world.
To sign up on Changera, you need the following:
- Bio data.
- National Identification Number (NIN).
- Proof of residency, which could be any of these documents: Driver’s licence, International passport, National Identity card or Voter’s card.
Sudo.Africa
Sudo.Africa is an API service that enables individuals, programmers and businesses to issue physical and virtual cards with more control and flexibility at scale. Giftcard Sudo.Africa provides a virtual dollar card that individuals can use to buy any service, anywhere and at any time.
Sudo.Africa creates the right abstractions so programmers or startup programming teams don’t need to stitch together disparate systems or spend months building new financial features.
To create a virtual card on gift.sudo.Africa all you need are the following:
- Biodata.
- Bank Verification Number.
Related Posts: 6 Nigerian digital banks compared
Chipper Cash
Chippercash makes sending and receiving money across and beyond Africa, easy and accessible. Users enjoy free transfers and low cross-border rates. An African unicorn, ChipperCash is trusted by more than 4 million people.
To sign up on Chipper Cash, you need the following:
- Bio data.
- Link any of your other bank accounts.
- Means of identification: National Identification Number or Driver’s licence or International passport.
Related Article: What’s up with virtual dollar cards in Nigeria?
Geegpay
Geegpay is a product owned by Raenest, a digital finance platform for the Gig economy. Geegpay provides virtual cards which can be used to make payments online, and shop, without unnecessary bank limits across millions of websites.
To sign up on Geegpay, you need the following:
- Bio data.
- Link any of your other bank accounts.
- Proof of address could be any of these documents: Driver’s licence, International passport, National Identity card or Voter’s card.
Fundall
Fundall enables users to spend internationally, transact on any website seamlessly, and enjoy the convenience, flexibility, safety, and security of cashless payments across various channels. Whether it’s for shopping online on Shopify or Amazon, paying for streaming access on Netflix, or business services like Facebook Ads.
To sign up on Fundall, users need to provide the following:
- Biodata.
- Link any of your other bank accounts.
- Bank Verification Number.
Klasha
Klasha allows users to spend and accept payments from Africa using African money methods and currencies, with payouts in hard currencies. The startup is solving payment issues African merchants and consumers face when they pay for products online via different payment methods.
To sign up on Klasha, users need to provide the following:
- Biodata
- Bank verification number
- A valid identification document such as a driver’s license, voter’s card, national identification number, and international passport.
Final thoughts
As the demand to make online purchases on international sites continues to rise, more virtual dollar card technologies will emerge (especially if traditional banking limits exist). This is a developing story, and we will continue to add more virtual dollar cards.
Editor’s Note:
We independently curated the active virtual card providers in Nigeria. However, we are not associated with any of these companies.
We advise that you carefully research to learn more about any of the providers you will choose to use.
Also, we removed some virtual dollar card providers that our readers frequently complained about
