It’s no news that the monthly spending limit on all Naira Debit cards for international transactions is just a meager $20.
With this limit, it is almost impossible to make a reasonable international transaction from Nigeria.
But we all know that most of the services we pay online these days exceed that amount.
So, how do you pay for that hosting fee?
How do you pay for that online course you’ve been planning to get?
How do you even shop for some nice item that can only be found on Amazon?
Well, you can’t pay for all those things with your Naira Debit card.
At least for now.
So, how do we solve this problem?
How do we bypass the $20 spending limit of the Naira card for international transactions?
Well, there are few ways we can try to do that, and that is the essence of this post.
You can try some of the methods below:
Month End Double-up Method
I use this method occasionally when I have to pay for an item that is above $20 but still below $40.
Since the monthly limit on the Naira card is $20, I simply wait until month end to do a double-up.
So, here’s how it works.
If I had to pay something like $35, I’ll use a digital wallet that is dominated in USD.
I simply pay $20 on the 30th of the last month and then $15 on the 2nd of the next month.
Voila!
Then, I use the $35 to pay for whatever service or product I’m looking to buy.
Digital USD Wallet Top Up Method
Still on the digital wallet matter.
Now, you don’t have to wait until you have to make a payment before topping up your USD wallet.
The CBN rule says $20 per month, which amounts to $240 per year.
So, why not exhaust that limit?
Aye sir!
I’m always intentional about exhausting that $20 monthly spending limit and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
So, what I do is this.
Every. Single. Month.
I put $20 into my USD wallet, and it doesn’t matter if I need it or not.
Now, here’s where the compounding effect comes into play.
If you have 5 Naira debit cards from different banks, and you consistently put in $20 from each card per month, you’d have $100 per month and $1,200 per year in your dollar wallet.
Now, you can do with it whatever you wish.
Physical Prepaid Dollar Card Method
There comes a time when you need to make that huge payment and you just can’t find a way around the Naira spending limit on your debit card.
Maybe you want to import a very important equipment, accessories, or even buy a car from one of those US auction sites.
In these kinds of transactions, you don’t want to even consider a digital dollar card to avoid stories.
You want to be in control of the money in the card and also have a physical means to lay complaints in case something goes wrong.
In this case, a physical prepaid dollar card is most ideal.
A few Nigerian banks offer prepaid dollar cards, but it seems that UBA are the most trusted in the business.
With a UBA prepaid dollar card, you can simply change your Naira to dollars and load it into the prepaid card.
Now, you can’t be limited to just $20 monthly payments.
CFA Francs Debit Card Method
This is what I call the hard fork method.
Yea, it’s not crypto but it’s definitely a drastic method where you just want to bypass the whole Nigerian banking system and their “wahala”.
Only those who have gotten to that point will understand this.
Well, CFA Francs is almost equal to the Naira. I think currently, it is 1 CFA francs to 1 Naira.
The CFA francs is used by the French speaking countries in West Africa.
So, Benin Republic aka “Kotonu” is where you want to patronize.
Here’s how the process works.
You simply travel down to Benin Republic, get a resident card and use that card to open a bank account there.
It is best you use one of the banks that is also available in Nigeria, e.g. Ecobank.
Now, after opening the bank account, simply request for a debit card.
Then start making online payments with the debit card.
When you pay in dollars, the equivalent in CFA franc will be debited from your “foreign” bank account.
See what I did there?
Now, to reload the account for subsequent payments.
You don’t need to travel to the Benin Republic again. The first time is enough.
All you have to do is use Chipper Cash to convert Naira to CFA francs and transfer it into your Benin Republic bank account.
Now, you can start making online payments in dollars without limit.
Payoneer Mastercard Method
Caveat: this would likely be the most expensive method to use.
Use this method when all other channels fail to work for you.
So, over to Payoneer.
Simply open and verify a Payoneer account.
After that, all you have to do is use Paxful to buy dollars directly to your Payoneer account.
Here’s how you will go about it.
Buy USDT on Paxful up to the amount of USD you need plus a few more for charges.
Then using the filter, choose the Payoneer payment method and USD currency, then find someone who wants to sell Payoneer in exchange for USDT.
That is very simple to do.
Once you have completed the transaction, you’ll now have dollars in your Payoneer account which you can always spend via your Payoneer debit Mastercard.
You can then start paying for whatever product or service you want on any merchant website around the world.
Now, you are unlimited.