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Telecommunication company Safaricom has launched the M-PESA Visa Virtual Card, which is a debit card that is able to card payments.

The M-PESA Visa Virtual Card was first announced by Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa as he was releasing the company’s FY 2022 financial results.

The M-PESA Visa Virtual Card will be able to make International payments and will enable M-PESA customers to be able to make card payments direct from their M-PESA accounts. The card will have the same transactions limits that M-PESA has, which is a maximum of Ksh. 150,000 per transaction and maximum transaction amount per day of Ksh. 300,000. The use of the card will not attract direct transaction fees but customers will be charged a 3.5% forex fee. The exchange rate will depend on the exchange rate at the time of making the payment.

The new card is in partnership with Visa whom Safaricom partnered in 2020 to launch digital products in Kenya. This card looks like the first of many products that the two companies will launch.

The M-PESA Visa Virtual Card is also part of M-PESA Global, which the company launched to be enable customers to make money transfers to other platforms. Other services include PayPal (withdraw and top-up), Western Union, and sending money to East African countries.

How to get a M-PESA Visa Virtual Card
  • Go to the M-PESA app (install it from Google Play Store or the Apple Store) if you haven’t yet
    Open up and go to the Grow tab (bottom right)
  • Click on Global Pay and opt in.
  • You will receive a confirmation SMS from Global Pay that you have opted in
  • Customise your card colour and image and then create the card
  • You will then receive an SMS with your card number and its expiry date
  • On the M-PESA app, you will be able to see your card number details and dynamic CVV
  • They can also activate it by dialling *334# then selecting option 6 for Lipa Na M-PESA followed by M-PESA Global Pay.

Features of the M-PESA Visa Virtual Card

1. Using the card: To use the card, all you need is the card number, date of expiry and CVV the same way other debit cards work.
2. CVV number: The M-PESA VISA Virtual card will have a dynamic CVV at the back of the card that will change every 30 minutes on the M-PESA app.
3. Customers can only have one card regardless of the number of SIM cards they have as long as they are registered using one ID.
4. Card limits: You can set card limits from the app so you limit the amounts that can be transacted.
5. Use of the card: You can only use the card on international platforms as long as they accept VISA cards.
6. Expiry: The card will expire after 3 years. The card will also become inactive after 6 months in case you do not use it.
7. Repeat payments: Customers will need to enable the Repeat Payments feature on the M-PESA app. This will enable customers make monthly payments without the need to update card details or the CVV when the payment is due.