ATM card suspension: Banks reject naira for visa payment

Thousands of United Kingdom and Canadian visa applicants and intending travellers wanting to book hotels online were stranded on Monday as Deposit Money Banks stopped their naira debit cards from being used for dollar and other foreign currency-denominated transactions.

The DMBs had on Friday stopped their naira debit cards from dispensing dollars to customers via Automated Teller Machines in foreign countries, as well as disallowed the cards from being used for online and Point of Sale transactions.

The banks cited dollar scarcity and volatility in the foreign exchange market as reasons.
Guaranty Trust Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Stanbic IBTC Bank have already stopped the withdrawal of foreign currencies from the ATMs by their customers who travel abroad and cut the value of their online and PoS transactions to $100 per month.

The development made the UK visa applicants wanting to pay the mandatory $118 for the six-month and $499 for the two-year visas through their naira debit cards to be stranded.

Payment for the UK visa is done online via the government-designated website.

Travelling agents and applicants said they could not complete the UK visa application procedures on Monday. They said payments with naira debit cards of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Ecobank Nigeria, United Bank for Africa Plc and other banks were declined