Tuesday 5 November 2013

MAKING PAYMENTS ONLINE WITH NAIRA MASTERCARD AND INTERSWITCH VERVE CARDS ON THE INTERNET


Interswitch Verve and Naira Mastercard cardholders in Nigeria can now make payments on the Internet without much ado to procure the goods and services they would want to buy. Naira MasterCard, InterSwitch Verve, Zenith Bank Mastercard Websurfer, and Zenith Bank Visa Prepaid Buxz cards are some of the most reliable payment cards you can use on the Internet today in Nigeria for your online transactions. But the Naira MasterCard and InterSwitch Verve debit cards stand out from the rest, not just because of the things you can achieve with them but also because they are cards you can easily obtain here in Nigeria without having to fork out that much from your pocket. You only need to open an account with some of our local banks here in Nigeria to obtain one. What is Verve Card? Verve card (from interswitchng.com) is your new InterSwitch (ATM) card now with chip and PIN. Verve is the new name of more secure, convenient InterSwitch (ATM) card that makes transactions safer and adds convenience to everyday life. Verve is issued by your bank and powered by InterSwitch. Verve’s is the first and only chip accepted on all available payment channels in Nigeria. Using the Interswitch network, card holders can perform payment transactions on over 12,000 Point-Of-Sale (POS) terminals, over 7,000 Automated Teller Machines (ATM), and on web merchant sites, mobile phones as well as kiosks and much more! 16 banks issue Interswitch Verve cards in Nigeria: First Bank, Intercontinental Bank, ETB, Stanbic IBTC, Oceanic Bank, Unity Bank, Sterling Bank, Spring Bank. Others are: Wema Bank, Bank PHB, FCMB, Afribank, Fidelity Bank, Skye Bank, Ecobank and Finbank. According to ITREALMS ONLINE these 16 banks have issued over 10 million Verve cards to their customers (log onto http://www.itrealms.com.ng/2010/10/banks-record-over-10m-verve-card.html for more details). About Interswitch InterSwitch Limited is an electronic transaction switching and payment processing company with a business footprint that covers the provision of shared, integrated message broker solutions for financial transactions, e-commerce, telecoms value-added services and e-billing in the Nigerian environment. The company is an independent, private sector led, Limited Liability Company (LLC) focused on facilitating the exchange of value between service providers (financial, telecommunications and utilities), merchants, their customers, and other stakeholders on a timely and continuous basis nationwide. What is Naira MasterCard? Naira MasterCard is a debit card denominated in Naira issued in partnership with MasterCard Inc. and banks like GTBank and FirstBank here in Nigeria. Naira Mastercard cardholders can use their cards to make payments online to procure products and services without having to drive through traffic to get to the bank nor join lengthy bank queues. Banks like GTBank and FirstBank will let you have a Naira MasterCard ATM debit card when you open an account with them (Current or Savings account). Once this card is activated for Internet banking, you can use it for your online purchases and payments worldwide, anywhere you see the MasterCard logo on the Internet. You can use it to order for products online or pay for services. However, you have to activate it to start using it for online payments and purchases. To activate it, do the following (we will be using GTBank in this tutorial): [1]. Go to any of their branches and ask to see the Customer Service people or the person in charge of card services. Tell them you want to apply for Internet Banking or want to be profiled for Internet Banking and would want to apply for a “Token”. A Token is a small security hardware like a key holder that generates a set of numbers which will enable secure transfers via the Internet banking platform. It generates a random password which will then be keyed in after the password to enable transfer. The use of Token is strongly recommended for the individual user. All customers that want to activate their Internet banking accounts are usually advised to request for a token to further secure their accounts from unauthorized transfers. The set of numbers generated should be entered when you are doing any transaction on these banks’ websites. Like I had earlier said, it is also required for the activation of your ATM card for online payments. The bank will debit N2,100 - N3,000 or so for the Token once you log into their site to activate it. You will get the Token device that very day (or they will ask you to come back for it another day) together with a PIN which you need to change in the process of activating your Internet Banking account on their site. [2]. After getting your Token and Internet Banking details from the bank, go to their website e.g. www.gtbank.com to activate your ATM card for online payment. For you to know you are on a secure connection and not a cloned website ensure there is “https” is in your browser’s address bar when you login. Fraudsters and hackers can create phishing websites to deceive you into thinking you are on the real website, so always check to see if your spellings of their URL is correct and ensure that there is “https” in it whenever you are logged in, for example https://ibank.gtbank.com/ibank3/ . Now, click on "Login" under "Internet Banking" and then enter your Internet Banking account user details which should have been given to you in a sealed envelope at the bank or sent to your email address. Enter the login details and once inside your account, click on "Get Activation Code" button. [3]. On the next page, follow the instructions provided and fill the form on the page. Select your card type (MasterCard) and enter the expiry date (which you will find on your ATM card e.g. 02/15 but enter the date without the slash ( /) sign e.g. 0215) and then press the little button on your Token. It should display some digits, type in those digits and click on the "Submit" button. [4]. A code will be generated for you after clicking the Submit button. The generation of the code means your ATM card has been activated. Keep this online activation code away from anybody except yourself. [5]. Your Naira MasterCard (ATM card) is now ready for making online payments anywhere you see the MasterCard secured logo on the Internet. The code generated will be required every time you want to make payment online with the card. MAKING PAYMENTS WITH YOUR NAIRA MASTERCARD OR INTERSWITCH VERVE CARD When making payments on any website that accepts these forms of Payment (i.e. either MasterCard or InterSwitch Verve), you will be required to fill in or enter your card details after clicking the "Order" or "Buy" button on the website: • For ‘Card Type’ choose MasterCard or Verve. • For ‘Card Holder's Name’, you are required to enter your name as it is written on your ATM card e.g. gasten volts imefi • For your ‘Card Number’ use the long number on top of your ATM card, which is commonly 16 digit on most debit cards. • For ‘Expiry Date’ enter the date as it is on your card; for example 02/16, but remove the slash (/) sign. • For your ‘CVV Number’ enter the three-digit security code at the back of your card, for example 435. CVV OR CVV2means Card Verification Value. • Confirm or complete the process and wholla that’s all!

BUYING ON THE INTERNET AS A NIGERIAN WITH YOUR BANK ATM CARD


Virtually all banks in Nigeria issue ATM debit cards but at the moment the GTBank Naira MasterCard, UBA Africard,Zenith Bank Mastercard Websurfer, and Zenith Bank Visa Prepaid Buxz cards are some of the most reliable payment cards you can use on the Internet for your online transactions here in Nigeria to make payments worldwide. The Fidelity Bank debit card which the bank offers to its customers who have at least a Savings Account with them is also reported to be a good online payment option. GTBank will let you have a Naira MasterCard ATM debit card when you open an account with them (Current or Savings Account). You can start using the card for your international online transactions by going to any branch of the bank to activate the card for Internet banking, you will be able to use it for your online purchases and payments worldwide, anywhere you see the MasterCard logo on the Internet. Just go to any GTBank branch and ask to see the Customer Service people or the person in charge of card services. Tell them you want to apply for “Internet Banking” or want to be profiled for Internet Banking and would want to apply for a “Token”. A Token is a small security hardware like a key holder that generates a set of numbers which will enable secure transfers via the Internet banking platform. It generates a random password which will then be keyed in after the password to enable transfer. You can use the GTBank Naira MasterCard to order for products online or pay for services anywhere on the Internet wherever you see the MasterCard logo. For now, let me concentrate on the easiest of them to get – the UBA Visa Prepaid card, called UBA Africard, issued by United Bank of Africa (UBA). The UBA Africard is one card you would want to consider and virtually the easiest to obtain. The UBA Visa Prepaid card (Africard) is a debit card variant denominated in Naira and is pre-funded and re-loadable. It is internationally accepted in all Visa acceptance points (ATM, PoS & Web). Card holders do not need to have an account with UBA in order to obtain this card, and the card can be obtained from any branch of UBA. The card is of two types; the personalized and the non-personalized types. I will advise you to go for the non-personalized type because you can instantly obtain it just immediately after applying for it. All you need to apply for the UBA Africard is a valid form of identity, particularly a government-issued ID, which could be an international passport, driver's license or National Identity Card, or even the Voter’s Registration Card (in line with the new CBN directive). You need a minimum of N500 (five hundred naira) to obtain this UBA Africard prepaid card, although in some cases you can get it even without paying a dime. This card has a 10 digit number on it. This number serves as your account number. To fund the card, simple pay into the account number at the counter. NOTE: Although the aforementioned cards are widely accepted online, you cannot use them to effect payment on some sites on the Internet. Some sites may reject them while some do not have provisions for accepting them. For example, Clickbank products cannot be procured using most Nigerian prepaid card. Most Clickbank products require a PayPal login before you can buy products on the site, so your Nigerian prepaid card will not be useful to you on www.clickbank.com. However, so many other sites, particularly the China based B2B sites like Aliexpress.com and DHgate.com will accept the card. You can also use these cards to make online payments for your web hosting service with Hostgator.com; domain name service with Namecheap.com or GoDaddy.com; autoresponder service with TrafficWave.net, Getresponse.com, Aweber.com. To cap it all, you can use these cards on many websites that accept the usual Visa and MasterCard. You can use them on websites like Amazon.com, Namecheap.com, Getresponse.com, Aweber.com, Aliexpress.com (to order PCs, tablets and other electronic gadgets from China), and DHgate.com (to purchase electronics, PCs, tablets, computer accessories, cell phones and accessories, jewelleries, handbags, clothes and so on from China) and Web4africa.net (to buy domain name and webhosting).