MANAMA: Al Salam Bank-Bahrain, one of the pioneering Sharia-compliant banks in the kingdom, yesterday announced the launch of the only “student visa prepaid multi-currency card in Bahrain, giving parents and students the freedom to select their preferred card currency.
The card is tailored to meet the university students’ requirements with added safety and security features when transferring or making their admission or tuition fees and paying bills. With a currency choice of Bahraini dinar, US dollar, Euro and British pound, it can be used everywhere, including both in-store and online purchases, in addition to withdrawing cash from ATMs around the world – wherever Visa is accepted, the bank said in a statement.
Al Salam Bank first deputy chief executive Anwar Murad said: “It is tough balancing student finances when your child leaves home to join a university abroad, while managing to keep a track record of their tuition fees and monthly spending of your child needs from grocery items to shopping purchases.
We are pleased to offer our customers the “student edition prepaid card”, a more flexible solution for their children to receive education fees instantly to their card account and add a control feature to set the card amount limits up to BD6,000 at ease every time they wish to top up the card at any of the bank’s e-Channel services.
“It also helps to avoid any foreign exchange charges when making transactions by using the country’s card currency which means it saves time and money,” Mr Murad said.
According to him, through the students prepaid card, parents will have an easy way to promote the financial responsibility and entice learning the essentials of money management skills among their children since the card doesn’t allow them to spend more than what is deposited, there is virtually no risk of overspending. Parents can add allowances, education fees and bill payments directly to the student card account transferred in a secured and real-time manner.
The cards are widely accepted at more than 35 million outlets and 2m ATMs across the globe. Besides the value-added benefits of prepaid cards, cardholders will receive free SMS alerts and monthly electronic statements, in addition to a secured online shopping feature through “Verified by Visa”, he added.
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