On October 1, 2016, Megafon entered the bank card market. Now the payment cards "Beeline" and "Mts-money" have a competitor. You can get a bank card at any office of the company. The card is a unique banking product, but it has its drawbacks that you need to know.
The main advantage of the Megafon bank card is a single card account with a mobile phone balance. Such a merger allows you to easily and quickly, and most importantly, no commissions, to replenish your bank card account. To do this, you need to top up your mobile phone balance from a card of any bank, through an ATM or a mobile application. No commission is charged for replenishing a mobile phone account. As a rule, when transferring money from card to card of different banks, a commission of about 2% is taken. There will be no such losses with a Megafon bank card.
We put the second plus on the card for additional income. A subscriber of the mobile operator "Megafon" will receive monthly money at the rate of 0.66% (8% per annum) of the balance on the mobile phone account. The minimum balance on the card, at which interest is calculated, is 500 rubles. Thus, the cardholder receives a consumable deposit with favorable conditions. In ordinary banks, such deposits have a lower interest rate, and the minimum balance is several times higher.
The third gift from Megafon is free service and free SMS messages. The card does not ask for money, so it can be on the shelf, and you can use it whenever you need it. After paying for purchases with a card, SMS messages come to the phone, for which you do not need to pay. On other bank cards, this service costs from 30 to 60 rubles per month.
We will put the fourth like on the card for cashback or a reward of up to 10% from the project partners. When paying for goods and services with a Megafon bank card, you will be refunded back to your account a part of the money spent - up to 10%.
The fifth advantage of the card is the contactless technology of payment for goods and services - the Pay Pass system. There is no need to insert the card into the terminal or swipe it with a magnetic stripe, it is enough to bring the card to the terminal screen and the money will be debited. This new feature is free; in other banks, cards with Pay Pass technology are considered premium, so they are very expensive to maintain.
The card also has its drawbacks, which can be important when using the card.
The first and most important disadvantage is the lack of insurance. The money on the card does not fall under the deposit insurance system and is not insured by the state. The card issuer is Round Bank, but the money is on the mobile phone account and is electronic money or e-money, and e-money is not subject to compulsory insurance. Therefore, it is risky to keep very large sums of money on the card. The cardholder does not need to be afraid of bankruptcy or license revocation, but the bankruptcy of a mobile operator must be remembered.
The second disadvantage is related to the protection of money on the card from fraudsters. Despite the fact that Megafon immediately blocks the ability to make unconscious paid subscriptions, the security threat remains. The funds are not in the bank, but in the mobile phone account, therefore, for maximum protection, it is better to keep large amounts of money in the bank.
We put the third minus to the Megafon card for cash withdrawals. If you can put money into a card account easily, quickly and without commission, then when you withdraw cash, you will have to part with a certain amount of money. You can withdraw money at any ATM, the commission is 2.5%. Thus, the cardholder loses part of the annual income. As a result, an income of 8% per annum turns into 5.5%. Therefore, it is better to use the card for non-cash payments.
The fourth minus is obtained from the fourth plus. When looking through the list of partners to receive a reward, it turns out that such stores are present only in large cities. Therefore, not everyone will be able to enjoy such a good advantage. Nevertheless, partners and promotions are constantly changing and we will hope that we can use this plus in the future.
We put the fifth dislike on the card for the terms of the card issuance. Only the owner of the Megafon SIM card can receive the card. Therefore, to receive this card, you will need to connect to this cellular operator. Registration of the card will be free only for those who have a tariff with a monthly fee. All others will be able to receive a card for 149 rubles, the service of the card will be free.
Let's sum up and evaluate the Megafon card. The Megafon bank card does not ask for money, it is issued free of charge and makes a profit. All the minuses are not critical, and practically do not affect the uniqueness of the card. In general, the advantages of the card largely outweigh the disadvantages, so I advise you to get this bank card.
