Visa Debit Card, Receiving funds via PayPal in Trinidad

zahc · Postby **zahc** » February 29th, 2012, 11:17 am

Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:
zahc wrote:Thanks for that info Duane.

Btw Shameer and everyone else, Paypal doesn't exactly use a higher exchange rate when you make purchases. They use the going rate at the time of transaction but they take a 2.5% commission on any transaction in which you have to convert currencies.
actually it's 3.5%

https://www.paypal.com/tt/cgi-bin/websc ... es-outside
Commercial payment fees for Trinidad and Tobago
Foreign currency fee
Each transaction that requires a currency conversion includes a currency processing fee of 3.5%, which is included in the conversion rate.

Oh shux!!! I didn't even notice the increase. Thanks for pointing that out man. Apparently the increase from 2.5% to 3.5% was made in Oct 2011....I missed it.

https://cms.paypal.com/ma/cgi-bin/?cmd= ... icies_full

JStaples · Postby **JStaples** » March 3rd, 2012, 11:26 pm

JStaples wrote:Yeah, That is good info but some questions though. How can you withdraw large amount of funds from the VTM card? I went to the bank and they told me they cannot withdraw any funds from the VTM due to some kind of security issue. They said I can only withdraw the funds from it using an ATM. But the problem here is...If I happened to receive about 4000USD on my card via Paypal, there is no way to withdraw all of this at once..Due to Republic Bank limits which is about 3000TT per day at the ATM (unless I decide to withdraw some money everyday). How could you withdraw large amounts in one transaction?? I even tried sending money from my VTM to my republic bank account online and apparently this cannot be done there either. Anyone else ever experienced this problem? If I had a RBL VTM cards, could I go to their bank and withdraw the funds?

I called them. They told me the withdrawal limit is 2000USD per day... :-)

. Nice. Plus you can get more that one VTM card to combine those limits!!!!

jeevdude199 · Postby **jeevdude199** » March 6th, 2012, 12:09 am

quick question idk if i missed it while reading through this thread cud i get a VTM card even though i'm a student living wit the parents?? Could i get the card issued on my name?

Postby **Duane 3NE 2NR** » March 6th, 2012, 12:29 am

^ yes
just go in to a Republic Bank branch with US$10 and 2 forms of valid ID and you can get it.

jeevdude199 · Postby **jeevdude199** » March 6th, 2012, 12:31 am

Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:^ yes
just go in to a Republic Bank branch with US$10 and 2 forms of valid ID and you can get it.

kk thanks but the last time i went they asked for a utility bill could i carry likr the cable bill under my dad name?

Postby **Duane 3NE 2NR** » March 6th, 2012, 12:41 am

^ try it and see

JStaples · Postby **JStaples** » March 6th, 2012, 12:44 am

jeevdude199 wrote:
Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:^ yes
just go in to a Republic Bank branch with US$10 and 2 forms of valid ID and you can get it.

kk thanks but the last time i went they asked for a utility bill could i carry likr the cable bill under my dad name?

It is much safer to go with a T&TEC bill or WASA bill just in case as some banks no longer accept cable bills. Learned from that already ;-)

jeevdude199 · Postby **jeevdude199** » March 6th, 2012, 12:45 am

Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:^ try it and see

arite i'll go 2mrw evening btw i cud use the VTM card on amazon?

JStaples · Postby **JStaples** » March 6th, 2012, 12:49 am

jeevdude199 wrote:
Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:^ try it and see

arite i'll go 2mrw evening btw i cud use the VTM card on amazon?

Yes you can. It's an international VISA card ;-)

jeevdude199 · Postby **jeevdude199** » March 6th, 2012, 12:53 am

kk thanks hope i cud get it

shottah_crew · Postby **shottah_crew** » July 27th, 2012, 12:56 am

jeevdude199 wrote:kk thanks hope i cud get it

Shouldn't be a problem. Had my VTM card years now, but I can't remember having to carry a utility bill... although I did already have an account with them for some time prior to that.

Postby **Duane 3NE 2NR** » July 27th, 2012, 1:25 am

One other thing I tested is that you can withdraw funds from your VTM card at the teller either as cash or a certified cheque.

This is great for people who want to sell items online. Customers can pay you via PayPal and the funds will be withdrawn from PayPal to your VTM card in US$. You can then go to Republic Bank and withdraw the funds from the VTM card as cash or a certified cheque in either US$ or TT$.

The VTM card can only hold up to US$5000.

Postby **Duane 3NE 2NR** » July 27th, 2012, 2:21 am

JStaples wrote:Yeah, That is good info but some questions though. How can you withdraw large amount of funds from the VTM card? I went to the bank and they told me they cannot withdraw any funds from the VTM due to some kind of security issue. They said I can only withdraw the funds from it using an ATM. But the problem here is...If I happened to receive about 4000USD on my card via Paypal, there is no way to withdraw all of this at once..Due to Republic Bank limits which is about 3000TT per day at the ATM (unless I decide to withdraw some money everyday). How could you withdraw large amounts in one transaction?? I even tried sending money from my VTM to my republic bank account online and apparently this cannot be done there either. Anyone else ever experienced this problem? If I had a RBL VTM cards, could I go to their bank and withdraw the funds?

see above

battlefield 3 · Postby **battlefield 3** » July 27th, 2012, 3:16 am

Does anyone know how to get to transfer from debit account to account to be credited on republic bank online,mine have both savings account number on both sides,trying to get to transfer from savings to vtm card?

cressida_override · Postby **cressida_override** » September 8th, 2012, 8:39 am

anybody else realise the paypal conversion rate has dropped from 6.6tt to 6.27tt?

shottah_crew · Postby **shottah_crew** » September 9th, 2012, 10:46 pm

cressida_override wrote:anybody else realise the paypal conversion rate has dropped from 6.6tt to 6.27tt?

So 1USD is 6.27TTD?

scotty_buttons · Postby **scotty_buttons** » September 9th, 2012, 11:35 pm

FYI to anyone, RBL VTM doesn't always work online; some merchants still require a US issued card for fraud reasons.

I hoping a Paypal account would get around this.

Postby **M_2NR** » September 9th, 2012, 11:59 pm

scotty_buttons wrote:I hoping a Paypal account would get around this.

Good luck.
Some require a US based PayPal address/account and don't allow TT based ones.

cressida_override · Postby **cressida_override** » September 10th, 2012, 1:25 am

scotty_buttons wrote:FYI to anyone, RBL VTM doesn't always work online; some merchants still require a US issued card for fraud reasons.

I hoping a Paypal account would get around this.

I've had a couple situations in the past where i won bids on ebay an when processing the payment through paypal an error came up with regards to the bank account being a non-US type. Just had to pm the seller and cancel the transaction.

Postby **Duane 3NE 2NR** » September 10th, 2012, 1:34 am

some vendors don't accept PayPal from customers outside the US for certain items.

Aribabs · Postby **Aribabs** » September 16th, 2012, 5:59 am

I tried to get Paypal to allow me to receive money through their gateway. However this does not work for me, is anyone else having problems in Trinidad with it? I have tried all their suggestions including removing and re-adding my card. They seem unable to fix it.

afterburners · Postby **afterburners** » September 16th, 2012, 7:57 am

Having same problem. Nothing I do helps.

Aribabs · Postby **Aribabs** » September 16th, 2012, 8:04 am

Ahhh luckily I found this info on the forums..

Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:In Trinidad & Tobago you CAN use a Republic Bank Visa Debit Card (Visa Travel Money / VTM) card with PayPal for BOTH payments and withdrawals. You CAN setup your PayPal account as a T&T resident using your T&T address without needing a US address or bank account.

The VTM card is a US$ card. Even if you put TT$ on the card it will be converted to US$. You can withdraw money from the card in any currency, it will be taken out as US$ and converted using the current exchange rate.

Republic Bank offers the VTM cards to anyone, you don't need to have an account with them. All you need is 2 forms of ID (a utility bill may be needed). They charge US$10 for the card which you can pay with in TT$. It takes 2 days for the VISA debit card to activate but you can load it up with money immediately when applying for the card. The VTM card has a PIN number that you can use at ATMs anywhere. You can use the VTM card without PayPal to buy stuff on websites that accept VISA credit cards. There is no fees to use the VTM card, however there is a fee to withdraw cash from the card (TT$20 per withdrawal I think).

If you do have a Republic bank account you can sign up for online banking and be able to check your VTM card balance online. you can also use Republic online banking to transfer funds to load your VTM card with more money.

You can sell items on ebay or anywhere and people can pay you via PayPal. The funds go into your PayPal account immediately and at the end of the month PayPal will automatically withdraw all your PayPal funds to your Visa debit VTM card. You can technically even use it instead of Western Union / MoneyGram to send and receive money from foreign. Keep in mind when you receive a payment via PayPal the funds belong to you but you can't withdraw it or use it for 30 days (paypal does this incase you need to refund the buyer, so it is security for them)

When selling items online, when you receive a payment PayPal charges you a fee of 4.9% + US$0.30 per transaction. So if you receive US$100, PayPal will keep US$5.20. There is additional 3.5% fee if they person pays you in a foreign currency like TT$ from their TT$ credit card - so cater for that when setting your online prices.

If you want to withdraw your PayPal funds to your VTM card you can. However there is a daily withdrawal limit of US$500 per day and there is a fee of US$5.00 per withdrawal. There is however no fee if you wait till the end of the month and PayPal automatically withdraws your entire balance to your VTM card (no limit).

InsanityReigns · Postby **InsanityReigns** » September 16th, 2012, 8:28 am

Nope no problems at all

Trini Hookah · Postby **Trini Hookah** » September 16th, 2012, 6:54 pm

So I have a Visa Internet Shopping Card (Rep Bank)

I need to enter the address that's on my account in the bank, i.e. Trini address? I put my skybox address by default.

Bizzare · Postby **Bizzare** » September 16th, 2012, 7:21 pm

You mean when adding a card, or when signing up?

dean_spleen09 · Postby **dean_spleen09** » September 16th, 2012, 7:22 pm

just realized why i couldnt recieve funds on paypal , it was not set up.

dunno if the republic visa prepaid could recieve funds though.

Withdraw payments to my Visa card issued in Trinidad and Tobago 5-7 business days $5.00 USD
Withdraw payments to my bank account in the U.S. 3-4 business days None

Bizzare · Postby **Bizzare** » September 16th, 2012, 7:25 pm

Yes I received funds everyday on my PayPal account using a Visa debit card......
My account is currently frozen.
They usually hold each payment for 30 days before it is released.

Trini Hookah · Postby **Trini Hookah** » September 16th, 2012, 7:26 pm

Bizzare wrote:You mean when adding a card, or when signing up?

Same thing basically, the address for the issued card i'm talking about.

Bizzare · Postby **Bizzare** » September 16th, 2012, 7:35 pm

No, when signing up it's a definite must to use your Trinidadian address else you wouldn't be able to verify your account. The thing is with PayPal, you cannot change your country after signing up so in the event that you registered with a US address, you won't be able to verify your account cuz you cannot change to Trinidadian.

The only way you can use a skybox address on Paypal is if you have a US bank account I believe, cuz US residents must add a bank account to their PayPal account for it to be verified. We don't.

Same thing when adding a card. It must be your country of residence. It's against their TOS to be living in Trinidad and having a US account though. Their Banking regulations doesn't allow it.