14ymedio, Havana, 23 January 2024 — A group of “selected branches” of the Banco de Crédito y Comercio de Cuba (Bandec) will begin selling prepaid cards in dollars for domestic and foreign customers starting this Wednesday. Similar to those already marketed in hotels, the new cards offer advantages over their predecessors: they are valid for five years instead of two and can be used to purchase fuel in the gas stations authorized to sell in foreign currency.
Bandec’s statement, published this Tuesday on Facebook, clarifies that the cards will be available, in addition to bank branches, in the Casas de Cambio (Cadecas) of the Island and, contrary to the previous ones, “they can be acquired by foreign and national natural persons resident or not in the national territory, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), non-agricultural cooperatives, self-employed workers, individual farmers (private)” and “the general population.”
The minimum amount to deposit to acquire a card will be 50 dollars or its equivalent in any of the currencies circulating on the Island, from which the bank will deduct four in terms of payment for the card, only the first time.
“It is rechargeable through cash deposits with the foreign currencies authorized to circulate and by transfers from abroad, with no limit on the amount,” said the bank, which did set a limit for the withdrawal of cash. “The cardholder, at the time of his departure from the country, can be reimbursed for the unused amount up to a maximum of 100 US dollars or its equivalent in another available currency, after presenting his boarding pass,” the statement explains.
It is rechargeable through cash deposits with the foreign currencies authorized to circulate and by transfers from abroad, with no limit on the amount
The bank did not clarify, however, whether the cards could be purchased initially at fixed prices, of 50, 100, 200, 500 or 1,000 dollars for example, such as those that are already traded on the Island and that are part of the regime’s strategy to retain at all cost the foreign currencies that enter the country, in any amount it can.
The new option seems to be designed for American and Cuban-American tourists who arrive on the Island and cannot use their bank cards on national territory due to the restrictions imposed by the embargo. For travelers from other countries, such as Europe, Canada and Latin America, the use of their Visa or Mastercard cards continues to be more direct and effective.
Days ago, the Cimex company also announced the launch of a foreign currency card with which fuel could be purchased in the gas stations in dollars, and even to import goods to the Island. Plastic, the corporation said at the time, can be used in all shops on the Island that have a point of sale (POS) terminal, whether in retail or wholesale stores. However, contrary to the card issued by Bandec, the Cimex card obliges customers to extract in pesos the money they have left at the time of leaving the country.
The card can also be requested from abroad, does not require a minimum deposit to be activated – except for its initial cost of four dollars – and will work with a numeric key, so customers will not have to identify themselves when using it.
“And now you’re telling me that I have to pay you four dollars for a prepaid card because the cards that Bandec has given me up to now aren’t going to work?”
Despite the enthusiasm with which the banks shared their “initiative,” customers did not have the same reaction. Several users complained on Tuesday morning, at the bottom of Bandec’s announcement, about the lack of clarity of the institutions and the Government regarding the use of these cards, especially by residents of the Island.
“I’m Cuban and have been a Bandec customer for many years with accounts in different currencies, and now you’re telling me that I have to pay you four dollars for a prepaid card because the cards that Bandec has given me up to now aren’t going to work to cover all my needs?” a reader questioned.
Other customers bombarded Bandec with more practical concerns: Can transfers be made with the new card? Can they be used to buy in wholesale markets? Why can’t I use my MLC card (freely convertible currency) to pay for fuel directly? The only thing that the announcement makes clear, a user said, is that “the MLC is not currency, it is a bonus that depends on products and services,” for which they have forced Cubans to pay despite the fact that salaries are still in pesos.
Nor has it been a good experience for travelers from other countries who bought these cards in Cuba. A report published by this newspaper last November reported on the difficulties of a Cuban-American faced to acquire products and services when he traveled to visit his family on the Island.
Nor has it been a good experience for travelers from other countries who bought these cards in Cuba
“They lose money (the Government), without a doubt, because they are not flexible. The worst thing is that when the tourist learns about the twisted mechanism they have created, now he’s upset,” Yoandy said at the time, referring to the low availability of small denomination cards and the refusal of hotels and establishments to receive foreign exchange in cash.
“She (his wife) could not understand that the hotel restaurant had food, it was full of waiters, the bar full of bottles, and we could not be taken care of because we could not pay in dollars and we refused to be sold an MLC card for 500 dollars,” he complained.
An Infotur employee then told 14ymedio that both he and his colleagues had noticed that customers preferred to buy cards of 50 or 100 dollars that they could then recharge “to the extent that they needed to have more funds.” However, he added, those denominations are always in “search and seizure.”
At this rate and with how difficult it has become to pay for everything, said a resigned netizen in the Bandec publication, “it is better that they dollarize everything.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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