Getting a card that works online

Before you sign up for anything, ask your own bank to switch on international and online transactions for the card you already hold. Many banks default this to off and the switch is often in their app, under card settings or card controls. This costs nothing and it is the fastest fix when it works.

In Nigeria this is worth trying first for another reason: the major banks are widely reported to have restored international transactions on naira cards from around mid 2025, with limits far above the price of a report. We could not confirm that from any bank’s own website, so treat it as worth ten seconds of trying, not as a promise.

Airtel Money virtual card (Global Pay). A virtual Mastercard, created inside the Airtel Money wallet you already have. There is no plastic: it is a card number, an expiry date and a security code, and nothing else. Airtel’s own page says it works for online payments “locally and internationally anywhere Mastercard is accepted”.

• ·How: open the MyAirtel app, choose to activate the card, accept the terms and enter your Airtel Money PIN.
• ·What you need: nothing new. Any Airtel Money account with completed registration, which for most people means the National ID they registered with.
• ·Cost: Airtel states that creating the card is free, and that moving money from your wallet onto the card is free. You can move unused money back to your wallet.
• ·Worth knowing: the card expires after twelve months and is renewed in the app. You can see the card number and security code there, and set your own spending limit.

Some blogs quote a percentage charge on foreign purchases. Airtel does not publish one on its own pages, so we are not repeating a number we cannot source. Airtel’s app shows you the full cost in shillings before you confirm a payment. Read that screen.

MTN MoMo virtual card is the same idea on MTN. Dial *165*70# and choose Virtual Card by MoMo. MTN publishes its pricing: a one-off charge of about UGX 1,000 to create the card, and a 5% markup on payments in a foreign currency.

M-PESA GlobalPay. A virtual Visa card tied to your M-PESA wallet, built specifically for paying international online merchants. Create it in the My OneApp app, under international transfers. You need an active M-PESA account, and you may hold one card per national ID. Safaricom charges a 3.5% markup on the payment amount and states there is nothing on top of that.

One more thing: a refund does not return the 3.5%, and Safaricom lets you fund the card from Fuliza. Fuliza is an overdraft, which means borrowing to buy a report. We would not.

M-Pesa Visa virtual card. Vodacom’s own page says it is for paying international online merchants. Create it through the M-Pesa menu on your phone or in the M-Pesa app under Services; the card details come back by SMS and appear in the app. You must be eighteen or older with an M-Pesa account on a Vodacom line.

• ·Load money onto the card before you try to pay: the card and the wallet are separate balances.
• ·Vodacom states that moving money from M-Pesa onto the card is free, and that fees apply when you pay online. It does not publish that fee, and we are not going to invent one.
• ·One card at a time, replaced yearly with a new number, and a card unused for about three months is closed.

NMB Bank prepaid Mastercard is a reasonable fallback if you would rather deal with a bank. NMB describes it as accepted worldwide online and available in several currencies including US dollars, reloadable at a branch, through their app, or from mobile money. You apply at a branch. We could not read their fee sheet, so ask about charges and any minimum balance before you commit.

Try your existing bank card first, at the top of this page. If it is refused, Grey is the option we could most solidly confirm. You sign up, verify your identity, open a US dollar account and create a card in the app.

• ·What you need: a government ID, proof of address, a selfie, and in Nigeria a Bank Verification Number.
• ·Cost: a one-off charge of about $4 to $5 to create the card, and you need a few dollars in the account first. Grey states there is no monthly fee. A cross-border charge of up to about 2% plus $0.50 can apply on non-US sites, which Grey says comes from the card processor rather than from them.

Grey works in Ghana on the same terms as above, and you can fund it from mobile money, so you do not need a bank account. Around $4 to $5 to create the card.

Grey’s own list of countries where it issues a card covers Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Bangladesh, among others. It does not cover India, Pakistan or Tanzania. Grey’s marketing mentions more countries than its card list does, so check the card list rather than the front page.

GTBank Ghana’s Visa prepaid card is the option to know about if you have no bank account at all: GTBank offers it to non-customers as well as customers, you collect it from any branch, and you can top it up from a mobile money wallet. It is valid for three years and GTBank describes it as working for local and international transactions. Their fees are in a separate tariff sheet we could not read, so ask at the branch.

Start with the card you already have. Indian banks are required to give every customer a switch that turns international use on, available at any hour through the bank’s app, net banking, an ATM or a branch. Every Indian card is issued with international use switched OFF, so this is the normal state, not a fault. In ICICI’s app it is under card services and debit card limits; in HDFC’s it is under card controls. It costs nothing.

If you would rather open something new, Fi Money and Niyo Global are savings accounts with Visa cards, including virtual ones, and international use is a toggle in the app. You will need a PAN card and Aadhaar. Check what the account charges for a foreign-currency payment before relying on any “zero markup” claim, because on both of these it depends which plan you are on.

Two honest warnings. Indian cards do sometimes fail on foreign sites even with international switched on, because Indian rules require an extra authentication step that not every foreign site sends correctly. If that happens it is your bank, not the site; retry, or call them. And the tax that applies to money sent abroad only starts far above the price of a report, so it does not affect you here.

Maya is the simplest route. Its virtual card is free, it lives in the Maya app under the cards tab, and Maya’s own page says it works for local and international online payments. You need a verified profile, which means a government ID and a selfie, and about 100 pesos in the wallet.

GCash also works but is slower, and one option people still recommend is gone: the GCash American Express virtual card was shut down on 1 April 2026. What remains is a physical GCash Visa card you order in the app and wait for. It also has to be used once in a shop or at an ATM with your PIN, and then left about six hours, before online payments will work. If you need to pay today, use Maya.

Check the logo first, as above: a PayPak card is for use inside Pakistan and will never work here. If you hold a Visa or Mastercard from your bank, international online payments usually need enabling in the bank’s app, which banks are required to let you do yourself.

SadaPay gives a free virtual Mastercard and asks only for your phone number, national identity card and a selfie. Be aware of the cost: its own published charges put international transactions at about 6% plus a small fixed fee, with tax on top. On a $20 report that is roughly a dollar and a half. NayaPay is a comparable alternative issuing Visa.

There is also a national ceiling on card spending abroad, set well above anything you would spend here, but it counts across all your cards together and resets each November.

Check the logo first: a GPN card is domestic only. You need a card carrying Visa or Mastercard.

blu by BCA Digital issues a free virtual Mastercard from its app, and its linked foreign-currency feature holds US dollars, so a payment can come straight out of a dollar balance. Jenius issues a virtual Visa card that needs no special activation once funded. Both open an account with your national identity card and a selfie or video call.

Bank Jago also issues a Visa card, but international payments have to be switched on in the app first, and we could not read that instruction on Jago’s own help pages, so check inside the app rather than trusting a set of steps from us. We would not use GoPay, OVO or DANA for this: their international acceptance is patchy and none of them documents it clearly.

Services like Chipper Cash also issue cards in several of these countries, and they work, but check the arithmetic before you use one for a single purchase. In Uganda, for example, Chipper charges to issue the card, charges a monthly fee whether you use it or not, and charges on both loading and spending. On a $20 report that can add up to roughly a third of the price again, and the monthly fee keeps running afterwards. The mobile money cards above are cheaper for a one-off purchase. If you do open one, close it when you are finished.

• ·Put the money on the card before you pay. Most of these are prepaid, and checkout often runs a small test charge first, which fails on an empty card.
• ·Expect a one-time code by SMS to approve the payment.
• ·If a payment fails, nothing has been taken. A charge only happens when you reach the confirmation page.

We check these details against each provider’s own pages and we do not repeat numbers we cannot source, but these are other companies’ products and their terms change without telling us. Confirm the current fees with the provider before you rely on them. This is a practical guide, not financial advice, and we have no relationship with any company named here.

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