While the MasterCard Naira debt cards issued by some Nigerian banks have stopped working for online international transactions, GTBank Naira MasterCard is still working fine for online payments, although the bank has reduced the monthly international spend limit.
Below is the screenshot of the most recent payment I made with my GTBank MasterCard Naira Debit Card.
I was charged N1,600 for 5 US Dollars when I paid for my Google for work subscription. Hence, the MasterCard conversion rate from dollar to Naira is like N320 per dollar .
I think this is still fair compared to the Naira MasterCard exchange rate in September & October 2016.
If you’re a blogger that earns in dollars, I think it is now cheaper to pay in Naira if you can get someone in the black market to buy your dollars at a rate higher than N400 per dollar. Let’s assume you sell $100 @ N400 per dollar, you will have N40,000. Now, if you pay online with Naira debit card and GTB charges you N320 per dollar, that means you will pay N32,000 for a $100 transaction. Hence, you save N8,000. Cool…huh?
Anyway, if you don’t want to go through the stress of making online payments with Naira MasterCards, you can get the Nigerian dollar MasterCard from your bank. It allows you to easily make online international payments without the constraints placed on the Naira MasterCard.
You can as well apply for Payoneer MasterCard . It is free of charge. You can fund the Payoneer card in Nigeria and you can even withdraw your Payoneer funds from ATM in Nigeria.
How much were you charged when last you used your GTB MasterCard for international transactions?
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