Against the backdrop of the termination of work in Russia of the popular payment systems Mastercard and Visa, there was a rush demand for cards of the Chinese payment system UnionPay. However, as the Russian woman said on the Yandex.Zen channel, travelers began to leave complaints about them. The girl also ordered a card and gave the design details.
Tourists took UnionPay for an analogue of departed companies. “Due to the fact that the coverage is large, I considered it an alternative to Visa and Mastercard payment systems,” the Russian woman shared.
Payment systems Visa and Mastercard, which were used everywhere in Russia, after the start of a special operation in Ukraine, announced the termination of work in our country. Tourists, having cards of Russian banks in their hands, were left without the opportunity to pay for goods and services abroad, since the cards of the Russian payment system MIR do not work everywhere and not always. Read about the results of her testing in the article “A Russian Woman Tested the MIR Card in Turkish Stores and Reported What Really Happened.”
Therefore, the choice of Russians who want to continue traveling with the possibility of cashless payment fell on the Chinese payment system, which, according to company representatives, covers 180 countries of the world. However, stating this, the company did not specify what they mean by this figure, because in a particular region the payment system can support one particular bank or store.
In Russia, 10 banks cooperate with this payment system, therefore, the issue of the card can be ordered from them. Another part of the banks said they are working on connecting to the Chinese system.
“However, those who ordered the card complain that payments on this card do not go through. When trying to pay for something with a virtual card on the Internet, a message arrives (maybe not always) with a request to scan the “plastic” for identification. If it is not there (a virtual card is issued), the payment does not go through,” the blogger said about the first nuance.
I believe that in other countries this payment system is also used by a very limited number of banks. It is not a fact that terminals in stores are connected to it. But in some reviews there is information that this card was able to successfully make a payment for hotel reservations on Booking. And this, in my opinion, is already quite a big plus,” she added.
Nothing personal – just business
The girl ordered a bank card from Post Bank. She paid 5,000 rubles for the issuance of a personalized card, although until recently its issue cost only 500 rubles, she said.
5'000 to 15'000 rubles. This is just for issuing the card. You will have to pay for the service separately,” the tourist explained.
According to various travel forums, in the early days of the frenzied demand for UnionPay cards, banks could change card issuance and annual service rates several times a day. According to experienced tourists, this map is useful “in places where Chinese tourists gather.” This means that destinations accustomed to groups of Chinese travelers have taken care and supplied UnionPay terminals. This is mainly Asia and some European countries.
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