Updated: Payoneer Cards Reinstated After FCA Completed Its Audit

Freelancers who use Payoneer as their primary method to make and receive payment have a reason to smile again after Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) completed its audit and lifted the freeze on the Payoneer prepaid Mastercards after 5 days in dilemma. 

What it mean’t to payoneer Mastercard Holders?

The FCA had communicated that they had taken these measures with the primary objective of protecting the interests and money of consumers who use Wirecard.

Pending further actions from the FCA, Payoneer users were temporarily unable to withdraw their funds on to their cards, nor receive new payments onto the card.

What Happened to the Money in  Payoneer Accounts?

If the Payoneer card limit is $5000, then, users were only able to transfer the funds in excess to their bank accounts. $5000 were be frozen pending FCA further action.

Getting Paid during the Period

Any payments that freelancers received from marketplaces that they operate in was not be affected by the freeze. The funds, and any others already on their virtual currency balance, were available for bank withdrawal.

In Summary

• Its good to understand that Wire Card’s Former and not the current CEO was arrested for failing to explain the missing $2 billion for it’s customers in Germany.
• There is a regulatory body in UK called Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which regulates Wire Card.
• FCA has freezed all the transaction being done by Wire Card to protect the money of their customers.
• Payoneer has not done any fraud. So No need to worry. Its not only Payoneer who is using Wire Card to process payments. Many other companies who use Wirecard as their payment processor was frozen.
• Your money is safe, and once the investigation is complete, all the money from Wirecard will come back to your Payoneer Mastercard and you can start using that money thereafter.
• If you receive any future payment, it will not be affected by the freeze. You can send them to other Payoneer users as payment or can be withdrawn to a bank account.
• Payoneer might tie up with other card processors and provide you with Mastercards or Visacards from those processors soon. This is because the case in question might take a while to resolve. It has affected billions of dollars in transactions done every day.

And that is. 

Let me know what you think of this blogpost in the comments below. 

Until next time, take care.