Credit card Services Nigeria - Available Credit cards

Credible credit card services are now in Nigeria. This means the dark ages of inability to shop online due to none availability of credit card services is over.

Those days were tough days. So many scammers came to the market offering one form of electronic payment or another. I personally lost substantial sums to two operators offering online payment solutions . . . one company in Ibadan and another off Allen Avenue Lagos Nigeria.

The service works once or twice, after that it's all stories about how their foreign partner disappointed them. And your money is gone.

Fortunately, the banks have come with credible credit cards and debit cards offering that provides genuine online payment electronic cards for Nigerians living in Nigeria.

These banks have partnered with established electronic card companies like MasterCard and Visa to bring Nigerians the kind of service that is available in advanced countries of the world.

The first bank to come into the Nigerian market with MasterCard offering was Ecobank. They pioneered the entrance of Nigerian banks into the credit card services industry. Then quickly, others followed.

Now, virtually every bank offers some form of electronic card service.

However, three banks have aggressively marketed their debit card services in Nigeria. These are . . .

Ecobank

Intercontinental bank and

Zenith bank

Zenith Bank offers a debit card solution called Web Surfer. The advantage of Web Surfer is that you can view your account online and print out your account statement.

The advantage of this is that you can know exactly what a merchant billed you by viewing your account statement. And you don't have to go to the bank to queue to do this.

Intercontinental bank offers two options . . .

A debit card in your name or

A prepaid debit card with the bank's name

With the 'debit card in your name' option you go through the account opening procedure whereas with the 'prepaid debit card in the bank's name' option, you pay and pick a card.

The second option is useful if you need to buy something urgently and can't wait for the two weeks period it takes to activate a regular card account. But it comes at a cost . . . you pay a charge of $25 for each card you buy. And the debit cards come in $250 and $500 options.

Ecobank has taken the credit card services business to the next level in Nigeria by actually offering a true credit card . . . the Naira MasterCard.

The Naira mastercard is a true credit card because it actually offers users a credit for up to 40 days without interest. The other electronic cards available in Nigeria are actually prepaid debit cards because you pay the monetary value on the card to the bank before you get the card or before your card is credited with the amount.

There you have them . . . the credit card services options in Nigeria.

Indeed, Nigeria has come a long way in becoming e-compliant. But there's more work to be done.

For example, Nigeria online merchants need a cost effective credit card processing platform that even small merchants with little funds can plug into. This service should of necessity be low priced so online merchants can afford it.

This is where we are in Nigeria. We are warming up for the next level.

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