IMPORTANT UPDATE!

Payoneer has resolved the issue. They are issuing new Choice Debit Cards to their card holders. I received an email from them, confirming they have issued a new Choice Card at my address. This card will have no restriction, like cash withdrawl. Thanks Payoneer.

At May4, 2010, I received this unfortunate email from Payoneer:

“Dear Customer,

Due to a change in requirements from our regulators, as of June 1, 2010 Payoneer cards will be blocked for transactions in the countries listed by the US government as having strategic Anti Money Laundering (AML) deficiencies. This change will affect card usage in the following countries: Angola, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Sao Tome and Principe.

If your card is in use in one of the countries listed, we encourage you to use all funds by May 31, while transactions are still possible in these countries.

Please note that beyond May 31 your card will continue to be fully functional in all countries not banned by the US government, and we will be happy to load payments to the card without any change.

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope that the Payoneer card will continue to provide you with valuable service.

Please feel free to use our Contact Us page for any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Payoneer Customer Support”

Indeed it was a great set back for all the coders who use Payoneer Master Debit Card to receive money from freelancing web sites like RentACoder.com, Elance.com, FreeLancer.com

But then a hope aroused when I received the following email from Payoneer at May 12, 2010:

Dear Waseem Khan,

RentACoder is glad to provide you with the new Choice Prepaid MasterCard®, with higher daily withdrawal and spending limits, to replace your current Prepaid MasterCard.

Similar to your existing card, the new Choice Prepaid MasterCard is a debit card and can be used at ATMs, at stores and online.

Choice MasterCard limits:
The daily ATM withdrawal limits is $2,500.
The daily purchase limit (at stores/online) is: $2,500
Total daily spending limit – $5,000

This card will replace your existing Prepaid MasterCard.

To order the new Choice card, please login to your Payoneer My Account at www.payoneer.com, and request a new Choice Prepaid MasterCard.
The new card will be shipped to you within a few days, without any shipping charges or Activation fee.

Order your card within the next 30 days. You can use your current card until you get the new card. Your existing card will be closed within 2 months.

Once you received the new card and activated it, Funds and services associated with your existing card will be transferred automatically to the new card.

Help and support
If you have any questions, please contact us at Payoneer Contact Form
We also have live online help at www.Payoneer.com
Thank you,
Customer Support
Payoneer, Inc.

I immediately applied for the new Choice Card with the hope that it will resolve the issue but it was still unclear that the new choice card was above all restrictions or the restrictions in the banned countries like Pakistan remain intact. So I contacted Payoneer about this issue. Hence at May 25, 2010, I received the following reply from Payoneer customer support:

Subject: [WEB Form] Category: Card Usage, Subject: Other, Program: Rent A Coder

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting us.

We are currently in a process to be able to provide our service to Pakistan, please try again within 2 weeks.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Ray

Payoneer Customer Support

At the time of writing this article, 6 business days have been passed. I  amd waiting and hope that they will come out with a solution. If you have any other update from Payoneer, please do not hesitate to post it in comments. Thanks.