FBC has just sent out an announcement to its prepaid card customers informing them that the bank will start charging a $20 fee on all prepaid cards issued by the bank a year. Personal accounts will be expected to pay $15 per year.

Please note that FBC Prepaid cards will now have the following annual fees applicable to them, $20 for Business and $15 for Ordinary cards effective February 2020.

The SMS just sent out to FBC’s customers.

The prepaid cards being referred to are MasterCards

FBC does have several prepaid cards including their famous MasterCard. We spoke to the Bank’s representative who said that this charge is in US dollars and affects their MasterCard.

A lot of Zimbabweans rely on this card to be able to make online payments as well as to be able to make purchases and withdrawals when travelling. Several families also utilise the card to send money to their children who are studying abroad.

The card has gained prominence in recent months as it is prefunded using USD and therefore allows those with “free” funds to be able to make payments in USD. As forex shortages crippled the economy all banks started to distinguish between real USD and RTGS even before Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube made it official.

As a result all bank linked cards started by capping transactions before they stopped working. In all that doom and gloom FBC Prepaid MasterCards became especially valued.

Some people just hold these cards for a rainy day however and it seems FBC wants to make sure that they are getting value from each card/account.