Paying with Lebanese cards online

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 $

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

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?

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.

I loaded some fresh cash early last month on my youth debit card (the result of a refund), I still cannot use them to this date. I would not suggest anyone introduce any cash to the banks at this time.

weird i had some balance and i was able to use it last week, but now i need to refill, thats why i'm asking.
I don't think the atm can take my cash and tell me you can't use it, I would make a scene if that happens

Everytime capital control gets modified, the fresh dollars are included in the equation (hence they are no long et fresh). Well, at least, that's what I have concluded. Don't take my word for it, just personal experience.

Once I called them and told the about the case their reason was (in summary) "the limits are on your account as of date X, no matter whether they were fresh or not"