Dollarization In Cuba - Cash For Plastic

[Nino]

Just found this - nice way to skim the milk and make it look like a favour ... 🙂

https://www.14ymedio.com/cuba/Cadeca-tarjetas-prepago-dolarizacion-Cuba_0_3104689512.html

Cadeca will issue prepaid cards, one more step towards dollarization in Cuba

The modality seeks to take over the remittance business after the departure of the Western Union from the Island

14ymedio, Havana | June 01, 2021

The Casas de Cambio (Cadeca) announce "a new service" of prepaid cards in dollars with exclusive use in the national territory to pay for goods and services in the commercial network in foreign currency. The modality, which is not yet implemented, seeks to take over the remittance business after the departure of the Western Union.

 

The new prepaid cards will be issued only by Banco de Crédito y Comercio (Bandec) and may be for 200, 500 and up to 1,000 dollars, details an advertisement shared on Facebook by Alejandro Velazco, vice president of Cadeca, although the state company has not yet provided details.

 

As noted in the publication, cash withdrawals from these cards "only take place in CUP" and "at the ATM network." He further explains that "the amount is not refundable in foreign currency" and that the bank "is not obliged to return the unused amount." The date on which the prepaid dollar cards will enter into circulation is not yet known.

 

In addition, although Velazco does not specify where these cards will be sold, the Cadeca points and Bandec branches could be involved in their sale and delivery, and it is not ruled out that they can be purchased from abroad through digital sites, such as it is already done with the telephone recharges of the state telecommunications monopoly Etecsa.

 

The new modality could speed up the process for national customers to buy in the network of foreign currency stores, where you can only pay with a magnetic card. Until now, the user had to have a card issued by a foreign bank or one obtained after opening an MLC account at a Cuban bank, a process that can take several weeks.

 

On the island, buying a dollar officially is almost impossible, while the Cuban government insists that the official value of foreign currency is 24 pesos, in the informal market it is already around 60 and with a tendency to continue rising.

 

Without prior notice, on May 20, Cuban airports stopped selling foreign currency. The news was announced by Cadeca in a message spread through its social networks a few hours before the entry into force of the measure.

 

The state entity said that the low influx of tourists with the pandemic has caused a "significant deficit" in foreign exchange and that to date it has been able to operate within the established limits, but the lack of liquidity has reached an unsustainable extreme.

 

On the other hand, the Government is taking decisive steps in its quest to obtain freely convertible currency (MLC) at all costs. One of these symptoms are many neighborhood stores that have gone from selling in Cuban pesos to offering their products in foreign currency, a dollarization that spreads throughout Cuba.

 

Every day the list of these state businesses grows. This transformation causes discomfort in the population, who perceive the change with a feeling of economic instability and monetary discrimination, but the process seems unstoppable for the authorities, thirsty to collect foreign currency at all costs.

 

While as of June 5, Cuban travelers residing on the island who arrive through the international airports of the tourist poles of Ciego de Ávila and Varadero will have to pay in MLC for a mandatory isolation package in a hotel for one week. The justification of the health authorities was that, among other reasons, the decision is due to "the need to reduce the costs associated with facing the pandemic."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[El Presidente]

So how does a friend or family member overseas put funds to the card?  No financial institution in the world is going to transfer funds to a cuban entity currently.

 

[mprach024]

1 hour ago, El Presidente said:

So how does a friend or family member overseas put funds to the card?  No financial institution in the world is going to transfer funds to a cuban entity currently.

 

You just have to sit through a time share presentation, piece of cake

[Cigar Surgeon]

2 hours ago, mprach024 said:

You just have to sit through a time share presentation, piece of cake

Can you smoke during the presentation? Asking for a friend...

[Ryan]

It is already possible to send funds from abroad to top up Cuban phones, a simple way now for the government to get its hands on foreign currency. And Cuban phone owners can transfer funds through Etecsa to another Cuban phone, there is a small charge for this. This has become a payments system for some Cubans I know. This system has been popular in parts of Africa for 25 years.

The logical step would be to allow transfers from a phone to one of these debit cards. The funds transfer system has already been in place for years. Rather then entering the recipient phone number (as is in place now), also allow a card number for the recipient.

By the way, for when we get back to Cuba, here's how to transfer funds. Of course the "CUC" will have changed to "CUP".

Dial *234# on your phone

Enter 1 to transfer

Enter the recipient phone number. No area code/country code required. Cuban cell/mobile phones only. This is where a debit card number could be introduced.

Enter the key. 1234 is the default.

The amount, this was in CUC.

You are going to transfer 30 CUC to that number, press 1 to confirm. That's it.

 

 

 

 

[Nino]

29 minutes ago, Ryan said:

It is already possible to send funds from abroad to top up Cuban phones, a simple way now for the government to get its hands on foreign currency. And Cuban phone owners can transfer funds through Etecsa to another Cuban phone, there is a small charge for this. This has become a payments system for some Cubans I know. This system has been popular in parts of Africa for 25 years.

The logical step would be to allow transfers from a phone to one of these debit cards. The funds transfer system has already been in place for years. Rather then entering the recipient phone number (as is in place now), also allow a card number for the recipient.

 

 

13 hours ago, El Presidente said:

So how does a friend or family member overseas put funds to the card?  No financial institution in the world is going to transfer funds to a cuban entity currently.

Yes indeed, and the company that tops up phones in Cuba is located in ... Ireland so there must be a way to transfer that money 1) to Cuba or 2) to some off-shore account the Cuban military-economic complex maintains.

And yes again - that is exactly the way the new Cadeca card system is intended to work.