By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerians were thrown into a fit of worry when Barter card, the virtual dollar card service from a Nigerian fintech company on Sunday, July 17, 2022, became unavailable to users.
The company in a mail said the shut down of the service was “due to an update from our card partner, which will cause the card service to be unavailable for an extended period of time.”
This meant that Nigerians using the service are now unable to make online payments and purchases using the Barter virtual dollar card.
They will also be unable to fund existing virtual cards, as the cards will be terminated and the corresponding balance credited to customers’ payment balance.
This means online transactions such as paying for Facebook ads, buying on Amazon, on Google, Spotify or even subscribing to Netflix, and YouTube, among others, are now halted.
Users have, therefore, been advised to unlink their dollar cards from any recurring payments plan they have attached and replace them with another payment method.
Other African fintechs such as Eversend, Klasha, Busha, GetEquity, and Payday sent identical messages to their customers.
This is happening because Union 54, whose API allows companies to issue debit cards to their customers and employees without needing a bank or a third-party processor, is experiencing issues relating to chargeback.
Here, Union54 cardholders claim to have not initiated purchases before proceeding to dispute a transaction, placing a complaint and contacting the issuing bank for a chargeback.
Business Post gathered from people familiar with the matter that Union54 might be taking a step back to build better chargeback, reconciliation, and settlement processes.
Nigerians are now seeking alternatives including Sudo Africa, Chipper Cash, Mono, ALAT by Wema, Bitmama, among others.
