Almost all Nigerian banks have notified their customers on limit on their card transactions for international payments.
You must have received a message from your bank that states; “Dear Customer, the monthly spending limit on your Naira Mastercard is now $100 for international transactions”.
If you make payment for social media ads or pay for services billed in foreign currencies using your Naira debit card, what this means is, you won’t be able to exceed $100 spendings (or the limit your bank has created) monthly via your card.
This is so because there is a huge shortage of Forex from CBN right now. The reserve is going down due to the lockdown and the banks are finding it difficult to access enough forex for these transactions.
An alternative to this problem, for those who spend way more than $100 monthly, is to open a domiciliary account and fund the account with dollar or whichever currency, gotten from BDCs or Parallel Markets. The downside to this is that, it is way more expensive.
The banks charge you at N380 to a dollar while you get dollar from BDC or Parallel Markets at over 470 naira to a dollar.
While some banks have placed a $100 monthly limit, there are other banks who have higher spending limit.
GTB has a $100 monthly limit
UBA has $100 monthly spending limit
Access bank and StanbicIBTC has $300 limit
While Wema Bank has $500 monthly limit (great thing is you don’t need to go to the bank to open this account, simply download the Wema ALAT app from your store and follow the prompts on your screen to open an account instantly. After opening, you can request for your debit card via the app and it will be brought to your doorstep. Another beautiful thing is, if you register with this referral code: BY1ZFK, 200 worth of airtime or internet data will be credited to you).
Other option is using the virtual card platform like GetBarter, but then, getbarter is also expensive as they charge you at N480/$
So obviously, if you are a heavy spender on foreign transactions, it’s either you go get an ALAT account right away in conjunction with other banks’.
But then, take note; ALAT charges around N444/$ .