Nigeria: Flutterwave shuts down virtual dollar card service

Fintech company, Flutterwave, has said it will be shutting down its virtual dollar card service also known as Barter card, effective from July 17, 2022. The company disclosed this in a message to its customers.

This means that Nigerians will no longer be able to carry out dollar transactions on the platform. The development would also worsen dollar transaction problem for many Nigerians who are leveraging the service to make purchases outside the country.

The company says it is stopping the service because of “an update from our card partner, which will cause the card service to be unavailable for an extended period of time.”

What they are saying

• Flutterwave in a message to its customers said: “We are writing to inform you that effective Sunday, 17th July 2022, all our Virtual Dollar cards will be unavailable for any transactions and purchases. This is due to an update from our card partner, which will cause the card service to be unavailable for an extended period of time.
• “Here is a breakdown of what to expect from 17th July: You will be unable to make online and in-store payments and purchases using your Virtual Dollar Card(s); You will be unable to fund existing Virtual Dollar Card(s); Your existing Virtual Dollar Card(s) will be terminated, and the corresponding balance will be credited to your payment balance; You will be unable to create new Virtual Dollar Card(s).”

While noting that it was working with its card partner to restore the service as soon as possible, Flutterwave advised its customers to unlink their Dollar Card(s) from any recurring payments and replace them with another payment method.

The Barter card is used on most merchant sites where the MasterCard logo is displayed. The Barter USD card can be used on most global payment sites like Uber, Google Play, Apple Music, Asos, Udemy, Coursera, AliExpress, Namecheap, Facebook, PayPal, etc. for payments and purchases.