It was half past midnight, Tanmoy Ahsan, a university student suddenly received a notification that his internet data was finished.
His semester final was in two days and he was studying online with some of his friends. It was already late to go outside to recharge the phone to buy internet package.
But he had solution, in less than two minutes, Tanmoy added required money to his bKash account from Visa card using ‘card to bKash’ feature and bought needed internet package from the bKash app.
“That night, it would have taken more than half an hour going out of the house to find a recharge point and then coming back. Adding money to bKash from card is very convenient in times of need. Besides, I can do many types of transactions using bKash which saves time as well as makes life much easier,” Tanmoy said.
In another instance, a private jobholder Sumiya Shumi regularly purchases different products and services from online shops and Facebook pages.
She said: “While buying things online, in many cases, there is no scope to pay with cards. In such situation, ‘card to bKash add money’ is the best option because money can be brought to bKash instantly to make payments. Not just that, I also use bKash to pay my child’s school fees, recharge mobile, pay utility bills, etc.”
According to the Bangladesh Bank, till August 2023, the number of active debit cards in the country is about 33 million and number of credit cards is little over 2.2 million.
Although many people have credit or debit cards, due to lack of POS (point of sales) in various places including shops, restaurants, grocery stores, scarcity of ATM booths outside busy city areas, many customers, in such situations, make digital payments through bKash by adding money from cards.
Besides, bKash has an extensive network of 330,000 agents spread across the country where customers, if needed, can easily cash out their money.
At the same time, bKash has around 600,000 merchant points around the country where customers can easily pay for various products and services by scanning QR code.
bKash’s 73 million verified registered customers can add money to their account from Visa or MasterCard issued in Bangladesh without any charge.
By adding money to bKash account from Visa or MasterCard, customers can send money, recharge mobile, pay utility bills, buying products from online or offline shops, donating to different organizations, paying fees of educational institutions, e-ticketing, paying fees of government services and many more.
Customers can even avail services like savings and loans of banks and financial institutions through bKash app.
How to add money to bKash from Visa or MasterCard
From bKash app’s home screen, you have to tap ‘add money’ icon to select ‘card to bKash’.
Then select ‘Visa’ or ‘MasterCard’ from the dropdown list to go to the next step.
Then one needs to select ‘My Account’ or ‘Other Account’ if transferring money to other bKash account.
Putting the add money amount, a customer will have to enter Visa/MasterCard number, followed by card holder’s name, expiry date and CVN (3/4 digit verification code) for Visa or CVV for MasterCard.
In next step, customer will get an OTP on their phone number. Clicking ‘proceed’ after entering the OTP will complete the fund transfer.
A customer will get a confirmation message in the phone after successful transfer.
For future add money transaction, users can save the card in bKash account.
In that case, add money would become even easier as it will only require the OTP after putting the desired add money amount before proceed.
A customer can add maximum Tk30,000 per day to any bKash account divided into one to five transactions.
The monthly limit of add money is Tk200,000 through maximum 25 transactions in total.
