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Fischer wroteI answered this here

https://lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=18999


This is what I know as of today, 26/01/2020, I am not planning to update the information in the future, if I did, I'll let you know.

Byblos bank's information is here. Basically you can withdraw $300 per week, you can buy whatever you want online, the limit is pretty high but you can't deposit money online, meaning you cannot use websites like skrill.com or any online wallet.

Blom lets you withdraw either $100 or $150 per week, I don't know the exact number, it keeps changing, and no online transaction is allowed whatsoever, no Aliexpress, no nothing, unless it's fresh money, meaning money you just received, you can't spend what you already have. You can still do local transactions, like buying an Alfa or MTC touch card.

And one last thing, I don't follow the news at all, my mom told me today that USA is planning to close bank of beirut and is sending warnings to whoever uses that bank to withdraw all of his money. Therefore using bank of beirut isn't recommended.

I hear that francabank and bank libano francais or credit libanais have high withdrawal limit, will try to validate that on Tuesday, if that's the case, I'm moving there, if they let me.


So get a byblos bank debit card and do what you want..
You're not fixating on the currency of your account.
I checked most of the cards in that page, if the card is linked to an LBP account, then you can only spend 50$ / week online.
I updated my answer, the currency of my byblos account is USD.



BLF: you can withdraw $1000 per week if you already have a USD account if you're trying to open a new account you won't be able to withdraw any USD (perhaps any LBP as well) for 6 months. So it will be a deposit account for 6 months.

Any answer I give is USD only, I don't have any LBP account and not planning to ever open one.
I tried to renew my World of Warcraft subscription yesterday and it declined. I wasn't aware that they limit on international payments had been only $100. So I called and ask them why they didn't tell people, they told me they're still trying to tell people. Anyway, I asked if they could raise my limit a bit, (which they did a month ago), and they declined.

So I had a bit of money on my Embark card, and tried to renew the subscription through that but that didn't work either. So I just purchased 90 days of game time and it somehow it worked.

This is kind of ridiculous.
So my Blom mini card stopped working too---I had bought some stuff with it at the beginning of the year and it worked fine, but then tried to buy something from iherb last week and it was declined. I had thought it was due to a credit limit imposed on me (without my knowledge of course), however, after reading here and other places, I went in this morning to the bank and asked about it. Apparently, we can't use it on international transactions any more, but could use it here. I of course thanked them for telling people--anyhow...

I have family abroad which sends money and that money is treated differently that the money from Lebanon (who knows why), so I ended up getting a visa card based on that account and it should be ready in a few days. I will update this as I will try to redo that same iherb order.
If we can't buy from aliexpress anymore we are doomed
PC and electronics stuff are more and more disappearing from the Lebanese shelves because importers don't want to lose with the $
5 days later
I just bought two things from aliexpress using blom mini.
No idea why yours isnt working.
NuclearVision wroteI just bought two things from aliexpress using blom mini.
No idea why yours isnt working.
Do you have an account at Blom Bank?
Adnan wrote
NuclearVision wroteI just bought two things from aliexpress using blom mini.
No idea why yours isnt working.
Do you have an account at Blom Bank?
Nope, standalone card
NuclearVision wroteI just bought two things from aliexpress using blom mini.
No idea why yours isnt working.
THey may have brought it back---I tried buying a couple of things last week and got denied. Then I tried it at a couple more places and more of the same. I will try it tomorrow and see what happens.

And, I do have a $USD account at Blom but using this card for online purchases.

Edit: Card works now. It was NOT working a couple of weeks ago. I guess that meeting the banks had last week did a few things.
10 days later
I second you, they told me the same thing ...
actually i have monthly payments to AWS that are way above this limit and i have no idea what to do, my servers will eventually go down i am trying to check other banks limits and maybe i can divide the payment using other people bank accounts.
kareem_nasser wrote
dio wroteI actually would like to know this as well. Even my Embark card doenst work on a lot of sites.
I called and asked Audi yesterday. For LBP account only 50 usd from the debit card is allowed for online transactions per month (some are saying to non lebanese companies mainly), if USD account 100 USD per month. On the phone they told me embrak is normal at 150 USD per month and i could transfer, yet i got in touch with someone in Audi through a friend and they basically prohibit fx to embrak cards completely, or that is what i understood.

Try to call them now and please update us if possible.
MAD wrote AWS that are way above this limit.
if you are desperate i can think of 2 ways.

method 1:

1- you download bitpay app
2- you buy bitcoins from localbitcoins and receive to the bitpay app
3- force close the bitpay app if opened, then use a vpn and change country to usa then open it again
4- click buy gift card and choose master card rewards card "you can load it with any amount"
5- they send you a link, click that and put any fake usa address with your name doesnt matter
6- it gets approved within 30 mins you can use on any non vbv site including amazon
for vbv sites you need to email them to change the email and phone number for the otp code
i personally use this method everywhere including aws renewal, i do alexa skills

method 2:

1- download cashu app
2- open, signup, and click mastercard
3- choose majd card
4- upload id card to verify identity
5- get cashu reload card from any of the places listed here
6- load the balance and use the card anywhere "card limit is 400$/month"
i know many ppl using this method, they even use it to verify paypal accounts in lebanon
you can also find reload cards on olx https://www.olx.com.lb/en/ad/cashu-prepaid-card-ID6QOrw.html

hope this helps
Dan28 wrote
MAD wrote AWS that are way above this limit.
if you are desperate i can think of 2 ways.

method 1:

1- you download bitpay app
2- you buy bitcoins from localbitcoins and receive to the bitpay app
3- force close the bitpay app if opened, then use a vpn and change country to usa then open it again
4- click buy gift card and choose master card rewards card "you can load it with any amount"
5- they send you a link, click that and put any fake usa address with your name doesnt matter
6- it gets approved within 30 mins you can use on any non vbv site including amazon
for vbv sites you need to email them to change the email and phone number for the otp code
i personally use this method everywhere including aws renewal, i do alexa skills

method 2:

1- download cashu app
2- open, signup, and click mastercard
3- choose majd card
4- upload id card to verify identity
5- get cashu reload card from any of the places listed here
6- load the balance and use the card anywhere "card limit is 400$/month"
i know many ppl using this method, they even use it to verify paypal accounts in lebanon
you can also find reload cards on olx https://www.olx.com.lb/en/ad/cashu-prepaid-card-ID6QOrw.html

hope this helps
A third way

Have someone (client, family whoever) send USD to your bank account from outside the country. That money is technically free from restrictions and then get a card based on that account and it should be solved. The only issue is that you will want a stream of payments to make sure you can always keep up.
Dan28 wrote
MAD wrote AWS that are way above this limit.
if you are desperate i can think of 2 ways.

method 1:

1- you download bitpay app
2- you buy bitcoins from localbitcoins and receive to the bitpay app
3- force close the bitpay app if opened, then use a vpn and change country to usa then open it again
4- click buy gift card and choose master card rewards card "you can load it with any amount"
5- they send you a link, click that and put any fake usa address with your name doesnt matter
6- it gets approved within 30 mins you can use on any non vbv site including amazon
for vbv sites you need to email them to change the email and phone number for the otp code
i personally use this method everywhere including aws renewal, i do alexa skills

method 2:

1- download cashu app
2- open, signup, and click mastercard
3- choose majd card
4- upload id card to verify identity
5- get cashu reload card from any of the places listed here
6- load the balance and use the card anywhere "card limit is 400$/month"
i know many ppl using this method, they even use it to verify paypal accounts in lebanon
you can also find reload cards on olx https://www.olx.com.lb/en/ad/cashu-prepaid-card-ID6QOrw.html

hope this helps
Does this card work with paypal?
NuclearVision wrote Does this card work with paypal?
yes choose saudi arabia when signing up
Dan28 wrote
MAD wrote AWS that are way above this limit.
if you are desperate i can think of 2 ways.

method 1:

1- you download bitpay app
2- you buy bitcoins from localbitcoins and receive to the bitpay app
3- force close the bitpay app if opened, then use a vpn and change country to usa then open it again
4- click buy gift card and choose master card rewards card "you can load it with any amount"
5- they send you a link, click that and put any fake usa address with your name doesnt matter
6- it gets approved within 30 mins you can use on any non vbv site including amazon
for vbv sites you need to email them to change the email and phone number for the otp code
i personally use this method everywhere including aws renewal, i do alexa skills

method 2:

1- download cashu app
2- open, signup, and click mastercard
3- choose majd card
4- upload id card to verify identity
5- get cashu reload card from any of the places listed here
6- load the balance and use the card anywhere "card limit is 400$/month"
i know many ppl using this method, they even use it to verify paypal accounts in lebanon
you can also find reload cards on olx https://www.olx.com.lb/en/ad/cashu-prepaid-card-ID6QOrw.html

hope this helps
Bitcoin is being sold at ~2600LL/1$ at the time of writing. So I would strongly suggest not to go with that route unless you explicitly want to own bitcoin. A much simpler and less convoluted method is to withdraw LBP and convert at the exchange for the market rate ( ~2300LL/1$) then deposit it back at the bank as fresh money which isn't subject to the same restrictions. You'll still be taking a loss in conversion but it'll be less than the bitcoin rate.
Elied wrote as fresh money which isn't subject to the same restrictions.
ohh they are allowing higher limit for fresh money?
Dan28 wrote
Elied wrote as fresh money which isn't subject to the same restrictions.
ohh they are allowing higher limit for fresh money?
banks are claiming there is no restrictions but this is a lie .. don't fall in their trap
duke-of-bytes wrote
Dan28 wrote
Elied wrote as fresh money which isn't subject to the same restrictions.
ohh they are allowing higher limit for fresh money?
banks are claiming there is no restrictions but this is a lie .. don't fall in their trap
They have less restrictions/higher cap for fresh money also depending on the bank and amount, other people have confirmed this on the forums in different threads as well.
Elied wrote
duke-of-bytes wrote
Dan28 wrote
ohh they are allowing higher limit for fresh money?
banks are claiming there is no restrictions but this is a lie .. don't fall in their trap
They have less restrictions/higher cap for fresh money also depending on the bank and amount, other people have confirmed this on the forums in different threads as well.
Suit yourself .. all fresh money will be treated as the old money soon
Has anyone been able to refill their blom mini through the atm? With usd bills of course. I haven't tried it.