Flutterwave discontinues Barter virtual dollar card “for an extended period of time”

Onyinye Okonkwo
Barter

Fintech company, Flutterwave, in a mail sent earlier today, announced that Barter card, the virtual dollar card service will be unavailable to users from Sunday, July 17, 2022.

The mail says the shut down of the service is “due to an update from our card partner, which will cause the card service to be unavailable for an extended period of time.”

This means that Nigerians using the service will be unable to make online payments and purchases using the Barter virtual dollar card. They will also be unable to fund existing virtual cards, as the cards will be terminated and the corresponding balance credited to customers’ payment balance.

Users have, therefore, been advised to unlink their dollar cards from any recurring payments plan they have attached and replace them with another payment method.

Flutterwave discontinues Barter virtual dollar card

Industry insiders believe this is happening because Union 54 is exiting Nigeria and this will affect its services and service providers.

About Barter

Barter by Flutterwave is a lifestyle payments solution launched in November 2018 by Flutterwave to aid people to send money to and from Africa for free. The app also made receiving money from abroad, creating virtual cards for online shopping, paying bills and making instant payments online easy and seamless.

This development is coming after a Kenyan court ordered the closure of 56 bank accounts operated by seven companies after the country’s Asset Recovery Agency told the court that the accounts were used as conduits for money laundering disguised as providing merchant services.

Flutterwave has since denied the allegations, saying it has records to back up its claims.

But, the ARA says, “Investigations established that the bank accounts operations had suspicious activities where funds could be received from specific foreign entities which raised suspicion. The funds were then transferred to related accounts as opposed to settlement to merchants.”

Flutterwave’s response stated the company has “a responsibility to ensure the integrity of the ecosystem,  and we pledge our commitment to continue working with all stakeholders to uphold this. We are working to ascertain the motive behind the false claims, and have the records straightened.”


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