10 December 2017

Hafiz Adewuyi

How to use your GTBank Naira Mastercard on PayPal - Nigeria

Why can't I use my GTB Naira Mastercard card on PayPal anymore?

Have you asked yourself that question recently? Or the slightly different variant of "Why can't I use my GTBank Naira Mastercard on Paypal"? One other popular variant I imagine would be: "Why did GTBank block Nigerians from using their Naira Debit Mastercard on Paypal".

If you're looking for the answer to any of those questions, then be merry. Cos' today is the day that you find the solution to that problem. A surprisingly very simple solution, if I may say.

GTBank Naira Mastercard + PayPal
GTBank Naira Mastercard + PayPal

If you don't care for the full explanation of this problem, feel free to skip to the final section (How to unblock your GTBank Naira Mastercard on Paypal). The next 3 sections only serve to explain the problem so you can get the full story behind this undesirable restriction on your GTBank Naira Mastercard.

Why does my GTBank Naira Mastercard not work on Paypal (anymore)?

Before mid-2016 or so, my GTBank Naira Mastercard used to work seamlessly with PayPal. I added the card to PayPal and I sure used it a few times successfully before that time.

A few months ago, I 'bought' my first ever Linux virtual machine from Digital Ocean. At the point of payment, I tried to add my Fidelity Dollar debit Mastercard directly, but it failed with the error: "Digital Ocean does not currently accept debit cards".

Fortunately, Digital Ocean accepts Paypal. So, I just went ahead to add that Fidelity Dollar debit card to PayPal, and then use PayPal to pay Digital Ocean from the same card. At the time, I had about $10 in the domiciliary account linked to the debit card.

My payment went through seamlessly. And things were good until I ran out of dollars in my Fidelity Bank domiciliary account. Since I was not ready to buy dollars to fund the account, I had no choice but to try to use my GTBank Naira Mastercard (through PayPal) for the next Digital Ocean subscription.

Unfortunately, my payment failed. I remembered that the last time before that when I tried to use the GTBank Naira Mastercard via PayPal, my transaction also failed. I had assumed it was due to a network error. But now, when it failed multiple times back-to-back, I knew it had to be something more than that.

This was when I recalled reading from a thread on TechCabal's Radar about GTBank having blocked the use of their Naira Mastercard through PayPal. Hmm. I did a bit of Googling and decided that was likely to be the problem here.

However, since I had to keep paying for my Digital Ocean account, I had no option but to find a way to pay (and Paypal seemed like my only option). One option was to find out which Nigerian bank allows their Naira denominated debit cards to be used on PayPal. Needless to say, that's was likely to be a long thing, since I would at least, first have to request a new card. And at the worst, I might have had to open a new bank account. The fact that international transactions are completely blocked off on most Nigerian banks' cards (read Nigeria's FX crisis) is another headache on its own.

I decided to do a little more research before giving up on GTBank Naira Mastercard since that was easier than the above option. And fortunately, I found a solution in less than 30 minutes of googling. The reason my transactions were failing was simple. GTBank placed a DCC (Direct Currency Conversion) restriction on their Naira denominated cards.

What is DCC (Direct Currency Conversion)?

Essentially, PayPal was automatically converting my dollar transaction to Naira using CBN's official rate (because my card was a Naira denominated card). My transaction was a $5 transaction. When you multiply that by the CBN rate at the time (say 320:$1), my GTBank account would be charged for 1600 Naira.

The thing about doing international transactions with your Naira card is that, even if your card is charged in Naira, your bank has to find dollars to pay back the international merchant (settlement). So, if my $5 transaction had been successful, GTBank would have had to find a source of dollars cheaper than or equal to 320:$1 (CBN rate) to be able to settle the merchant for that transaction. If not, my transaction would have caused them a financial loss. GTBank's rate for customers at the time was about 380:$1. Which means that the bank would have lost a fraction of 300 Naira on this transaction, depending on their FX sourcing rate.

Now, you can think that such a minute loss is not too much for a bank like GTBank to bear for their customers. After all, they can probably get dollars at a rate close to the CBN official rate due to their might. However, when you multiply the marginal loss on a transaction by the several thousand (if not millions) Nigerians who use a GTBank Naira Mastercard for international shopping, it's not hard to imagine how the bank can end up neck deep in losses amounting to billions of Naira in a matter of days.

Hence, to curtail potential bankruptcy, GTBank blocked DCC transactions on their Naira Mastercard for all customers (which probably includes you). This means that when the bank's card processing system receives a transaction originating from an international location (not Nigeria) but bearing a charge in Naira, they instruct the system to automatically decline it by means of a system configuration.

I hope that you can agree with me at this point that the bank is justified in making this decision. After all, GTBank is very far from being a not-for-profit organization.

How can I use my GTBank Naira Mastercard on PayPal?

The solution to this problem is very simple. You simply need to get on GTBank's side of this FX economics to solve the problem. If GTBank's system receives your charge in dollars and not Naira for a transaction originating from the US, then it can use a rate decided by GTBank to convert the transaction to Naira before passing the charge to your account.

In this way, GTBank can ensure that they apply a rate to your transaction that is sufficiently higher than their dollar-sourcing rate to make them a good profit margin off of it after settling the merchant.

Hence, the solution is for you to instruct PayPal to not convert your transaction to Naira and instead, send the original transaction currency (e.g. dollars) like that to your bank. The process is very simple, but the interface to do it is inexplicably well-hidden away in their menu system. In fact, I noticed that the web page to make this setting change has the old PayPal look-and-feel. Not surprisingly, there's currently no way to navigate to this page on the modern PayPal UI menu.

The three-step process to remove the restriction on using your GTBank Naira Mastercard on PayPal comes next.

How to unblock your GTBank Naira Mastercard on Paypal

1. Visit the PayPal card setting management page on your internet browser by clicking here (you might have to log on to your PayPal account if you're not already logged in). To ensure that this is not a phishing attempt on your PayPal account, please verify that the certificate on the loaded page belongs to PayPal.

PayPal secure Certificate
PayPal secure Certificate


PayPal card currency conversion settings page
PayPal card currency conversion settings page


2. Click the Conversion Options link beside your GTBank Naira Mastercard in the list of cards

Ask Paypal to use Mastercard/VISA's currency conversion process, not theirs. This is what your bank wants
Ask Paypal to use Mastercard/VISA's currency conversion process, not theirs. This is what your bank wants

3. Most likely, the first option is selected on your GTBank card. The first option enables PayPal's currency conversion process which is what causes the whole DCC problem. Just select the second option (Bill me in the currency listed on the seller's (merchant's) invoice) and submit the form.

That's it! Just ensure your GTBank Naira Mastercard is well funded enough, then retry your PayPal transaction. It will be successful.  At least, so it was in my case. I followed this same process and not up to 5 minutes after, I was able to make a successful payment to the same Digital Ocean where my transaction had previously failed multiple times. 

P.S.
I think it would go a long way if GTBank would send a simple SMS or link to a customer to recommend possible solutions when their transaction fails because of a direct currency conversion.

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64 comments

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Unknown
AUTHOR
5 January 2018 at 22:35 delete

Please Admin,

What can I do to add my GTBank Naira MasterCard on PayPal because I have tried severally but to no avail.

Thanks for your support

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6 January 2018 at 09:10 delete

Hi Yusuf, you need to have money in the account because PayPal would need to do a $1 transaction on the card for initial verification. Once you confirm there's enough money in your GTB account for the $1 transaction and the problem still persists, you can use the Help and Resolution center on Paypal (once you log in) to report the problem to PayPal, stating that you suspect that the payment is failing due to the fact that they're sending that initial debit of $1 to GTBank in Naira instead of dollars. You'll then ask them if there's a way you can change this setting to send the transaction in the original currency ($) before you add a card.

Please, feel free to update me on progress.

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Harry
AUTHOR
6 January 2018 at 12:31 delete

I tried this method, didnt work for my GTB card o. It says "check card details". I tried and tried and all my details are correct. Same details I was using before GTB disabled usage of their cards on paypal a couple of years back. so what do I do next?

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Unknown
AUTHOR
10 January 2018 at 18:11 delete

Dear Hafiz,

I acknowledge the receipt of your prompt response.

I'll implement the solution you recommended to me and get back to you as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Regards

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10 January 2018 at 18:18 delete

Thanks Yusuf. Looking forward to your feedback!

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Unknown
AUTHOR
11 January 2018 at 10:27 delete

Dear Hafiz,

Please find below the response I got from PayPal while I await your reply Soon:


1/10/18 at 8:06 AM
Dear Yusuf Zakari,

I hope you are doing well today. It is my pleasure to clarify things with you.

Please note that we received an update that most banks in Nigeria (not only GTB) are no longer allowing the use of their Naira denominated debit cards for international payments through PayPal. Please contact your bank directly to know what other card(s) you can use on PayPal for online and international payments. You may also apply for another card from a different bank so that you can continue sending payments. You may also inquire if you can apply for a USD currency card because it can be used on PayPal for your purchases.

We'll be glad to hear from you if you need clarification or assistance.

Thank you for choosing PayPal. Have a great day!

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11 January 2018 at 10:44 delete

Can I see the email you sent to them as well?

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Unknown
AUTHOR
14 January 2018 at 22:16 delete

I have laid the matter to rest after that.

However, I used my UBA MasterCard and everything worked without any hitch. In fact,I successfully performed my transaction thereafter.

Thank you.

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Unknown
AUTHOR
18 January 2018 at 19:12 delete

thanks for the write-up. I cant link mt ATM card at all, thats my issue, clicking the link u posted, there's no card on the list , as ive not saved any.

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18 January 2018 at 22:09 delete

Hi Raji. Several of my readers have reported experiencing the same problem you face with adding a new card.

My advice would be for you to try another bank card based on the experience of the last user (Yusuf) who reported this issue.

Since this process works only for existing GTBank cards on PayPal.

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Anonymous
AUTHOR
21 January 2018 at 21:14 delete

You were able to add your UBA master card?? Cuz adding the card to my PayPal account is the main issue i have...

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Unknown
AUTHOR
25 February 2018 at 00:44 delete

Nice write up.
Very intelligent and helpful
Thanks

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Gonjoe
AUTHOR
8 March 2018 at 23:41 delete

thanks for the information ,pls i want run a campaign on facebook with my mastercard and it was declined. i need your advise sir
thanks
joseph




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Sa'adatu
AUTHOR
18 May 2018 at 20:25 delete

Interesting read. I tried to register my GTB Naira MasterCard on PayPal to receive some payments but wasn't successful, that was about a year ago. I was then advised to open a domiciliary account and use the USD Mastercard, which I did; unfortunately it still did't work. I gave up on trying. Two days ago, I tried again with my USD card and it was accepted. I don't know exactly what to ask, I probably just want to comment. Can I still try with my GTB Naira Mastercard?

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19 May 2018 at 12:51 delete

Thanks for the comment, Sa'adatu.

I doubt that you'll be able to use your Naira MasterCard. It doesn't hurt to give it a go anyway, so you can try.

One thing I learned from the comments though was that this process worked for me, because my card had already been added to PayPal before GTBank introduced the restrictions.

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Subz
AUTHOR
30 May 2018 at 10:25 delete

Hi Hafiz,
Thank you for the informative post. Can one recieve money on GTB or Firstbank Mastercards via Paypal without having a domiciliary account?

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Anonymous
AUTHOR
23 June 2018 at 13:13 delete

Good afternoon.. Please i want to know .Is it possible to send money from PayPal to the linked gtb master card?

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11 July 2018 at 04:41 delete

My guy, God bless you for your write up. I was turn down several times by PayPal with my StanbicIBTC debit card and Access bank debit card. I even went to one of the Stanbic bank branch and they ask me to come and open a dollar current account with the bank.

But I needed to make my purchase. That is when I started making my research on how to go about it until I found your site. I followed the steps you outlined here for my Access bank card, behold it worked.

Thank you so much for documenting your experience for the benefit of other people.

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11 August 2018 at 04:24 delete

Am still having problem linking my gtbank naira master card, am almost given up 😔

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Unknown
AUTHOR
16 August 2018 at 17:18 delete

plss help me to link my gtbank master card to my paypal...they re telling d card was link to another paypal wic is not true i try many cards no work plss help

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14 September 2018 at 22:38 delete

God bless you Bruv, you really got me out of a fix, had to come back and comment. Knowledge is indeed power. Thank you

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Unknown
AUTHOR
17 September 2018 at 08:53 delete

Ok so I read this some weeks ago cus i was wanted to add my gt card to PayPal seeing the comments i decided opening a uba account was next just yesterday i don't know what happened my mind just told me to try it again to my surprise in worked, I finally added my Gtb card to PayPal and even confirmed it

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17 September 2018 at 11:44 delete

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know things worked out for you

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Unknown
AUTHOR
25 September 2018 at 00:32 delete

good work bro diamond visa debit card didnt work... signed up at gtb praying i get my card sooner n pray it will work... thanks for all these.... please if your card is working state the bank as well as type of card thank you

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Unknown
AUTHOR
27 September 2018 at 11:48 delete

Hello well i am trying to link my debit naria mastercard to my paypal, i am with gt bank, but it keeps saying that the card is not accepted, so i have a few questions,
1- does paypal only accept credit cards?
2- which bank converts my naira to dollars when making an international transaction
3- is there any other bank that will allow the linking to be seamless

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Unknown
AUTHOR
27 September 2018 at 11:49 delete

i was also wondering, is it possible to receive money and make a payment with that money on paypal, without linking it to my bank account

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Affairs
AUTHOR
3 October 2018 at 23:07 delete

In the process of having $1 in my account, but I don't have dollar account, i only have naira account an i have enough money. Can I be able to link my naira master card to my PayPal?

Thank you hafeez for educating us important updates Allah bless you

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4 October 2018 at 10:12 delete

Hey there. Just try it and see how it goes. Based on a lot of the comments here, you cannot add a new GTB Naira MasterCard to PayPal afresh, except it was already there before GTBank placed the DCC restrictions. Your best bet would be a dollar card. You can also look through the comments for any additional tips. All the best man, and thanks for the prayers 😎

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Affairs
AUTHOR
11 October 2018 at 19:01 delete

Thank you Hafiz for your response,

an my demand is i want to have your contact for some issues please. If possible i need your whatsapp number

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11 October 2018 at 21:03 delete

Let's connect via e-mail. Shoot me one at hoadewuyi at gmail dot com

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Smart
AUTHOR
23 October 2018 at 15:55 delete

I tried linking my GTBank Mastercard to PayPal, but it refused... and I have money in my account. And then I read a blog post from one site saying GTBanks doesn't let users link Naira Mastercard to PayPal anymore - which means one has to get a Dolar Mastercard. I don't know how true this is.

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Unknown
AUTHOR
8 November 2018 at 22:53 delete

wonderful and useful , may God bless you!

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dassmann
AUTHOR
22 November 2018 at 16:02 delete

Hello, can I receive money into my PayPal account via GTB. I had a transaction some time ago that was refunded via PayPal purchase and I got the money refunded in my account.

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22 November 2018 at 18:55 delete

Try sending an e-mail to PayPal to see if they can return the money to your card account. If not possible, your best bet might be to spend the money on another purchase

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Kennedy
AUTHOR
27 November 2018 at 18:09 delete

Thanks man am really greatful i think I will copy this link as a proof to my site because ever since i made a related post on this Lot's readers has been killing me with Questions if GTB naira card will work in their PayPal verification

https://paypalnigeria.com/create-verified-usa-paypal-account-in-nigeria/


NOW THE ANSWER HAS BEEN SAID HERE: am greatful once again

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Unknown
AUTHOR
5 December 2018 at 18:37 delete

Thanks for this info man. Looking forward to read more from your Blog........... Bookmarking right away.

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6 December 2018 at 07:23 delete

Yay. I'm glad you found this useful

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Unknown
AUTHOR
6 December 2018 at 10:36 delete

Kai. your explanations are dope very easy to read and understand. i love your writing skills man always keeping it simple.

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Unknown
AUTHOR
13 December 2018 at 04:12 delete

The bank that issued your card didn't approve this transaction. Please contact the card issuer's customer service department if you have any questions. Or you can add a different card now to continue.



that is what just receive when trying to add my MasterCard. i will open another bank account and try it again. thanks for the support

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13 December 2018 at 06:59 delete

Is it a new card? You can e-mail me your number at (hoadewuyi at gmail dot com) for me to assist

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9 January 2019 at 20:52 delete

Hey Hafiz thanks for the help u are giving lots of people here.. .Thanks again

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16 January 2019 at 15:43 delete

The bank that issued your card didn't approve this transaction. Please contact the card issuer's customer service department if you have any questions. Or you can add a different card now to continue.the message I received when I added my diamond bank debit card

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Unknown
AUTHOR
27 February 2019 at 16:06 delete

can i withdraw from my paypal account to my GTB dollar ACCOUNT?

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10 July 2019 at 16:15 delete

Thanks Hafiz, finally worked for me

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9 August 2019 at 04:40 delete

Which dollar card is best to receive money from Paypal account, visad dollar card or master dollar card. Thanks

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9 August 2019 at 05:00 delete

Which dollar card is best to receive money from Paypal account, visad dollar card or master dollar card. Thanks

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Anonymous
AUTHOR
14 September 2019 at 04:50 delete

Am not able to add gtb master card what is the way out

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Unknown
AUTHOR
7 October 2019 at 05:02 delete

I'm used to using my GTb Naira card to make payment through Paypal, but since yesterday it wont allow me. Just followed the steps in this post and its the same error. Please what can i do? Below is the error message from Paypal


Sorry, we couldn't set up your subscription using the card you selected. Please try another card.

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7 October 2019 at 15:21 delete

Hey there. I would suggest reaching out to GTBank to explain to you what caused the Paypal transactions to fail

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phatsam
AUTHOR
30 March 2020 at 04:26 delete

Hey blogger Hafiz I must commend you for a good job here. I will like to know if the USD account is the best to link with PayPal account since the naira account had stop working with all I had read so far. Thank you

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31 March 2020 at 06:30 delete

Hi Phatsam, thanks for the comment. I think that's really worth trying because the foreign currency conversion issue which is the main reason that some Naira cards can't be added to PayPal surely won't be an issue for a USD account card. Please, remember to add a comment here if you try it out so other readers can benefit.

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Unknown
AUTHOR
20 July 2020 at 23:05 delete

Thanks for the post.It was a huge disappointment for me because I had to get the GTBank naira mastercard for the purpose of using it for the international transaction.It got declined.I think I should just get the dollar card

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Anonymous
AUTHOR
16 September 2020 at 02:49 delete

Up till now, to receive money with PayPal is still an issue?

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Abbey Tough
AUTHOR
16 September 2020 at 02:54 delete

Recently, I found this the best strategy that works but not everyone like giving it out. I got them from here

Even when I got the package, it comes with some methods whereby you can receive money instantly to your bank account from anywhere in the world without PayPal.

Here are what I could get from the package.

You will be able to open a PayPal account in Nigeria without the use of VPN

Send and receive payments in Nigeria

Withdraw PayPal money to Local bank in Nigeria

https://bit.ly/3krFrKF

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MAYDAY
AUTHOR
3 March 2021 at 18:04 delete

This is supper helpful, thanks. Though i have a different case, my GTBank card cannot be linked to paypal. I have been using my GTBank card on paypal for years but recently after my card expired, i could not link a new card. have you had a similar experience before?

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Unknown
AUTHOR
6 March 2021 at 08:28 delete

I want to link my gtb debit card to PayPal how possible is it.

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19 March 2021 at 19:26 delete This comment has been removed by the author.
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Johnson
AUTHOR
21 April 2021 at 07:06 delete

Thank you this article was helpful

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Johnson
AUTHOR
21 April 2021 at 07:06 delete

Thank you this article was helpful

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Unknown
AUTHOR
28 May 2021 at 22:37 delete

greeting hafiz pls am new here, pls i have both visa and mastercard naira card. so but having read all the comment in this platform, but i have concluded to go and open domicially accout, and i have done that today but the bank said they cannot issued me the dollar card today that it must go some process, and i have to wait for good 7 working day, so am now like asking you should it take such days

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Unknown
AUTHOR
28 May 2021 at 22:38 delete

greeting hafiz pls am new here, pls i have both visa and mastercard naira card. so but having read all the comment in this platform, but i have concluded to go and open domicially accout, and i have done that today but the bank said they cannot issued me the dollar card today that it must go some process, and i have to wait for good 7 working day, so am now like asking you should it take such days

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Unknown
AUTHOR
3 July 2021 at 18:28 delete

When I tried to link my bank to my paypal account it said card declined.why?

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