The two largest payment systems suspend work in Russia. In the first minute on March 10, 2022, their cards will turn into useless pieces of plastic for clients of Russian banks who are abroad. Everyone who pays with Visa and MasterCard within the country has nothing to worry about yet, although they will have to say goodbye to some of the usual services.
Another question is what to do for those who are abroad or are planning a trip to other countries?
Why are they leaving and what will happen now?
March 3 Visa published official announcement on the suspension of servicing cards of Russian banks. Two days later this did and MasterCard. Both companies cited the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the reason for the move and strongly condemned the war. MasterCard described the developments as “shocking and devastating”.
In the releases, however, there was almost no specifics. Therefore, the Russian regulator and private banks had to explain what consequences this would lead to. Best of all, Tinkoff and Alfa-Bank coped with this task.
From their messages it follows that Visa and MasterCard cards will work in Russia as before – nothing will change for those who are in the country. It will be possible to withdraw money from cards at an ATM, transfer funds online using a card number or phone using the Fast Payment System, pay for purchases – but only in Russian stores.
In fact, those who live in Russia and do not use foreign online services may not even notice the “departure” of international payment systems. This is because all card payments go through Russia’s “National System of Payment Cards” (NSPK). Banks even assure that they will continue to issue Visa and MasterCard:
“We have several million “plastic” in stock,” wrote Alfa-Bank in its Telegram channel.
Many financial institutions have extended the validity of cards, regardless of what is written on the plastic, until 2028 and even until 2030.
Problems will arise for those who are abroad or planning a trip abroad. From the first minute (Moscow time) on March 10, all Visa and MasterCard cards will turn into useless pieces of plastic. By the way, cards of foreign banks in Russia will not work either.
Transferring money from a foreign card to a Russian one and vice versa will not work, clarifies Tinkoff. It will be impossible to pay for goods in foreign online stores and regular purchases (for example, subscriptions to foreign services such as the usual streaming, cloud storage and music services). It will not be possible to pay for the rent of foreign servers and other basic services for the IT sector.
At the same time, the money will remain in the accounts, and no one will confiscate it. Just use them abroad will not work. Is there a way out?
“Peace” for Russians
For those planning a trip abroad, the Central Bank recommends taking cash with you. At the same time, it must be remembered that export more than $10,000 abroad has recently been banned. In addition, the regulator advises to issue a Mir card, which is processed by NSPK. True, Mir works only in nine countries – these are Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The second option is to issue a Mir card, but only in those banks that use the Chinese UnionPay processing system for it. These cards are issued only 11 banks in Russia, and the largest of them are Rosselkhozbank and Gazprombank. Some of them decided not to miss the opportunity to earn money and raised the price for cards based on UnionPay.
At Gazprombank, it now costs 5,000 rubles to issue a “smart card” based on UnionPay. But such cards are accepted for payment at ATMs in 180 countries around the world. Neither Alfa-Bank nor Tinkoff, beloved by travelers, have yet released Mir with the UnionPay payment system. But they promise to do it soon.
“We will resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” the Tinkoff Bank support chat replied.
Quite a serious problem for those who live abroad, are not going to return, and use Russian cards to receive payment for their goods and services. They have several ways to use their funds.
Firstly, at any embassy, you can issue a general power of attorney for a friend or relative living in Russia. According to this document, anyone can receive funds from a current account in Russia.
There is a way to send money. For example, you can send cash with a trusted person who flies to the host country. Or send cash using Western Union. Money transfers on the site and in the application are not currently available, the company said. But service points in Russia are still working. The commission for transferring more than 10,000 rubles is 1%, plus, some percentage will have to be paid for converting rubles into other currencies. But Western Union branches are located all over the world and it will not be difficult to withdraw funds abroad.
Secondly, rubles can be transferred to USDT in Russia – and then cashed out in the cryptocurrency in the country of residence.
Thirdly, you can wait until the bank with which the service agreement has been concluded issues a new card with UnionPay. True, in this case you still have to send plastic – ATMs abroad do not read cards tied to the phone. In addition, paying with a card that is connected to the phone using NFC technology is quite a rarity abroad. Especially in Asian countries, access to which is still open for Russians.
You can also ask a friend or relative to issue a UnionPay card for themselves, then send it along with a pin code to their country of residence. In this case, it will be possible to withdraw funds from an ATM and pay in stores.
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The two largest payment systems suspend work in Russia. In the first minute on March 10, 2022, their cards will turn into useless pieces of plastic for clients of Russian banks who are abroad. Everyone who pays with Visa and MasterCard within the country has nothing to worry about yet, although they will have to say goodbye to some of the usual services.
Another question is what to do for those who are abroad or are planning a trip to other countries?
Why are they leaving and what will happen now?
March 3 Visa published official announcement on the suspension of servicing cards of Russian banks. Two days later this did and MasterCard. Both companies cited the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the reason for the move and strongly condemned the war. MasterCard described the developments as “shocking and devastating”.
In the releases, however, there was almost no specifics. Therefore, the Russian regulator and private banks had to explain what consequences this would lead to. Best of all, Tinkoff and Alfa-Bank coped with this task.
From their messages it follows that Visa and MasterCard cards will work in Russia as before – nothing will change for those who are in the country. It will be possible to withdraw money from cards at an ATM, transfer funds online using a card number or phone using the Fast Payment System, pay for purchases – but only in Russian stores.
In fact, those who live in Russia and do not use foreign online services may not even notice the “departure” of international payment systems. This is because all card payments go through Russia’s “National System of Payment Cards” (NSPK). Banks even assure that they will continue to issue Visa and MasterCard:
“We have several million “plastic” in stock,” wrote Alfa-Bank in its Telegram channel.
Many financial institutions have extended the validity of cards, regardless of what is written on the plastic, until 2028 and even until 2030.
Problems will arise for those who are abroad or planning a trip abroad. From the first minute (Moscow time) on March 10, all Visa and MasterCard cards will turn into useless pieces of plastic. By the way, cards of foreign banks in Russia will not work either.
Transferring money from a foreign card to a Russian one and vice versa will not work, clarifies Tinkoff. It will be impossible to pay for goods in foreign online stores and regular purchases (for example, subscriptions to foreign services such as the usual streaming, cloud storage and music services). It will not be possible to pay for the rent of foreign servers and other basic services for the IT sector.
At the same time, the money will remain in the accounts, and no one will confiscate it. Just use them abroad will not work. Is there a way out?
“Peace” for Russians
For those planning a trip abroad, the Central Bank recommends taking cash with you. At the same time, it must be remembered that export more than $10,000 abroad has recently been banned. In addition, the regulator advises to issue a Mir card, which is processed by NSPK. True, Mir works only in nine countries – these are Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The second option is to issue a Mir card, but only in those banks that use the Chinese UnionPay processing system for it. These cards are issued only 11 banks in Russia, and the largest of them are Rosselkhozbank and Gazprombank. Some of them decided not to miss the opportunity to earn money and raised the price for cards based on UnionPay.
At Gazprombank, it now costs 5,000 rubles to issue a “smart card” based on UnionPay. But such cards are accepted for payment at ATMs in 180 countries around the world. Neither Alfa-Bank nor Tinkoff, beloved by travelers, have yet released Mir with the UnionPay payment system. But they promise to do it soon.
“We will resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” the Tinkoff Bank support chat replied.
Quite a serious problem for those who live abroad, are not going to return, and use Russian cards to receive payment for their goods and services. They have several ways to use their funds.
Firstly, at any embassy, you can issue a general power of attorney for a friend or relative living in Russia. According to this document, anyone can receive funds from a current account in Russia.
There is a way to send money. For example, you can send cash with a trusted person who flies to the host country. Or send cash using Western Union. Money transfers on the site and in the application are not currently available, the company said. But service points in Russia are still working. The commission for transferring more than 10,000 rubles is 1%, plus, some percentage will have to be paid for converting rubles into other currencies. But Western Union branches are located all over the world and it will not be difficult to withdraw funds abroad.
Secondly, rubles can be transferred to USDT in Russia – and then cashed out in the cryptocurrency in the country of residence.
Thirdly, you can wait until the bank with which the service agreement has been concluded issues a new card with UnionPay. True, in this case you still have to send plastic – ATMs abroad do not read cards tied to the phone. In addition, paying with a card that is connected to the phone using NFC technology is quite a rarity abroad. Especially in Asian countries, access to which is still open for Russians.
You can also ask a friend or relative to issue a UnionPay card for themselves, then send it along with a pin code to their country of residence. In this case, it will be possible to withdraw funds from an ATM and pay in stores.
Subscribe to the Cryplogger channel at YouTube.
Found a mistake in the text? Select it and press CTRL+ENTER
